He is a member of the Communist Party

A man in southern Vietnam making his child’s female teacher kneel down apologetically in the school building after she punished the student will likely receive the most serious penalty in his political organization.

Attendants at a meeting held by the Party Committee in Nhut Chanh Commune, Ben Luc District, Long An Province, have unanimously agreed that local Vo Hoa Thuan, a member of the Vietnamese Communist Party, is to be eliminated from the group.

This is the heaviest punishment in the organization, followed by dismissal from the internal post, warning, and reprimanding, in the descending order of gravity.

Tran Van Tuoi, chairman of the Ben Luc People’s Committee, provided the information.

The meeting concluded that Thuan’s behavior toward the teacher in February is indicative of a serious violation of principles laid out by the Communist Party for its members.

The chairman said the local decision will be considered by one of the higher bodies, the district-level Committee of the Communist Party before it becomes officially valid.

The decision followed the case involving Thuan, which has for more than one week caused strong reactions in Vietnam, where teachers are highly respected, as a cultural value.

On February 28, Thuan and his wife arrived at Binh Chanh Elementary School, in Long An Province, where their child, a fourth grader, studies, to express their disapproval of the child’s being forced to kneel down and having his open hand struck in the classroom by the female teacher, N..

A meeting was convened with N. and the school principal, who apologized to Thuan and his spouse.

But Thuan showed behavior and language coercing the teacher to kneel so that the problem could be resolved.

This is the case, according to the conclusion from a task force by the Ben Luc People’s Committee responsible for verifying accounts from Thuan, the teacher and principal, chairman Tuoi said.

Previously, the picture was not particular clear, with conflicting stories.

Teacher N. said that Thuan threatened her that if she refused to kneel, he would convince all her students’ parents to oppose her.

The school principal prevented her from taking the action, which she performed after he had left.

She stayed in that posture for about 40 minutes before Thuan and his wife said ‘OK.’

The account by Thuan is different.

“I said because the teacher couldn’t kneel on such a small chair, she couldn’t ask her student to get down on their knees on it. I said this two times, in front of the people [of the meeting] and it wasn’t meant to pressurize her at all,” he said.

But the teacher kneeled down to prove her trustworthiness in teaching after receiving complaints about her instructional methods from Thuan and his wife.

The man then implored the teacher to rise to her feet but she declined, he claimed.