VietNamNet Bridge – Bullying, sexual harassment and psychological attacks are occurring both at school and through electronic media. The number of students committing suicide is on the rise as well.

Plan Vietnam, an international non-government organization, surveyed 3,000 students  and 40 percent said they had been victimized at least once by other students in the last six months. The number of female students suffering from mental abuse was higher than male students, while most of the female students who suffered sexual harassment were aged 15-17.

Plan Int’l found that 62 percent of male students felt safe on the way from home to school, compared to only 42 percent of female students.

Students may suffer from problems anytime and anywhere, through electronic media like Facebook or SMS messages.

Six out of every 100 students said this happened to them, and 50 percent of them do not know the identities of the bullies.

However, though the bullies are “intangible”, with fake names on Facebook and SMS, they still can upset students’ lives and studies.

Three-fourths of students said they felt physically and mentally uneasy at home and at school.

Some students said they feel isolated and afraid of going to school. Others said they have no energy to continue their studying. And many students said they want to commit suicide.

Analysts noted that despite the drastic measures taken by general schools recently, abuse in schools still exists.

Do Thi Thu Hong, deputy headmaster of Van Thang Secondary School, admitted that 15 school abuse cases have been discovered at the school since early September.

The educator noted that students pick a fight just because of minor problems. A student said he fought a classmate just because he “was itching to slap him”.

Social organizations reported that school violence has become more serious with many more violence cases discovered. Students not only assaulted classmates, but they also brought lethal weapons to schools and threatened teachers.

However, their repeated warnings about school abuse and the society’s indifference to school violence have been ignored by parents, according to analysts.

Two-thirds of parents and half of teachers are indifferent to their children’s and students’ complaints about abuse.

When a girl told her mother that she suffered from sexual harassment, the mother said it was caused by her unreasonable clothing.

About two-thirds of parents blame their children in the cases, and they take no action to protect children or sympathize with the children. As a result, the students try to cope with their problems in their own way.

Tien Phong