Upsetting video shows 7th grader beaten by classmates
Authorities in Tra Vinh Province have demanded strict punishments for a group of seventh graders after a video went viral showing they brutally attacked a classmate during indoor recess for being "disobedient".
At a meeting on March 11, Dong Van Lam, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee instructed Ly Tu Trong Junior High School to set up a disciplinary committee to handle the case.
On March 8, the video clip was posted and spread widely on the Internet.
Phan Thanh Nguyen, principal of Ly Tu Trong Junior High School, later confirmed that the case happened at his school.
“It was during a break on January 13. However, the students had covered it until the video was posted online,” he said.
The short video of less than two minutes showed a group of students beating the schoolgirl, who helplessly protected her head with her bare hands.
They pulled her hair, beat her with plastic stools and threw the stools at her.
Nguyen said the school had a meeting with parents of involved students and all students in the class on March 9.
According to preliminary findings, the class president, identified only as V, accused the victim, P, of refusing to follow her orders. During the break, she told others to beat P and a student from the nearby class filmed it.
P did not tell anybody about the bullying because V and others threatened her.
Her family took her to hospital after they saw bruises on her face and back, but she only said she fell down the stairs at school.
Nguyen Phuoc Thanh, P’s father, said he took her to Ho Chi Minh City for examination recently after being aware of the violence.
P said she felt dizzy after being beaten and that's why she fell down the stairs.
“I still have fatigue and frequent tinnitus,” she said.
The school principal Nguyen said any measure to be taken against the involved students must be agreed upon by all members of the disciplinary board.
“Personally, I will propose a one year suspension,” Tuoi Tre quoted Nguyen as saying.
Vo Thanh Tat, the class head teacher, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that most parents of the involved students have divorced and may not be giving their children enough care and attention.