A high school teacher in HCM City has been suspended for not talking or giving lectures to pupils for weeks.

Teacher Tran Thi Minh Chau has just been suspended for not talking or giving lectures to the pupils for weeks

On March 23, Pham Song Toan, a pupil at Long Thoi High School, reported that a maths teacher, Tran Thi Minh Chau, had not talked to the pupils. When she came into the class, she wrote the lessons on the blackboard but didn't communicate with the pupils. The pupils mostly learnt on their own. 

Chau was suspended on April 9 and the family of Toan transferred her to another school.

HCM City Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thu said that the authorities had been too slow in dealing with this case. Giving pupils such silent treatment is a form of school abuse and the school must suspend the teacher after the report was proved true, she said.

Thu said the city people's committee would not interfere with how the school deal with their teachers. However, any punishment must be strict and in accordance with the law. According to Thu, the school council shouldn't vote for Chau's punishment because it would be unacceptable if the majority vote to ignore Chau's behaviour.

Chau admitted that she was wrong but denied that she hadn't talked to the pupils for nearly a semester. Chau said she only stopped talking after Tet holiday because of personal reasons. She had also talked with the headmaster and the pupils. She thought of herself as a responsible teacher or else she would have taken a leave of absence after the report.

"I wished Toan would have talked to me first," she said.

Bui Minh Binh, headmaster of Long Thoi High School said most parents didn't want to blow the case out of proportion and hoped that Chau would teach the class normally.

Dtinews