Chuong Duong Elementary School in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on Monday issued a decision to suspend a teacher for 15 days as she had asked her students' parents for contributions to buy her a new laptop.

Parents of students in class 4/3 expressed their concerns about head teacher T.P.H. after she informed them via messages in a Zalo group chat that she would not prepare lesson revision outlines, as some of the parents had disagreed with her suggestions on their funding to buy the laptop.

H. later stated, also via chat messages, that she would not accept any contribution to purchase the device but would retain the funds for activities in class 4/3.

In response, 25 out of 38 parents submitted a petition to the school, requesting either the replacement of the head teacher or the transfer of their children to other classes.

H. on Monday told local media that she had lost her laptop at the school in the 2022-23 academic year, adding that her classroom is equipped with a television so she wanted to have a new laptop to prepare lessons and connect with the television for teaching purposes.

As the school management board made no move after she reported the loss of her own laptop, she asked her students’ parents to chip in to buy a new device for her.

H. explained that she did not seek the principal’s opinion on requesting the parents' funding since she believed it was a normal practice aligned with a policy that encourages joint contributions from the state and residents for educational development.

“I made this request based on the voluntary spirit of the parents. Without a laptop, the television will go unused, which would be wasteful,” she claimed.

Le Cong Minh, principal of Chuong Duong Elementary School, then told the teacher not to receive money from the parents.

H. claimed that she saw Minh's instruction as a reason to create a poll in the Zalo group chat for them to decide if they agreed or disagreed with the principal's decision, as she had found no good excuse to turn down the parents' funds.

“All of the parents had agreed to contribute money for me to buy a new laptop at an earlier meeting, so I had no reason to refuse the funds,” H. stated.

On Monday morning, 24 of the 38 students in class 4/3 were absent from school. Their parents reported that they had not received any announcements from the school concerning their children’s classroom activities.

Minh confirmed the school is dealing with the case.

It has suspended the teacher and would invite another to teach class 4/3.

Like us on Facebook or  follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!