Vietnam suspends teacher for gagging students with parcel tape

May 18, 2011, 4:05 GMT

Hanoi - A teacher in southern Vietnam was suspended for gagging schoolchildren with parcel tape to keep them quiet, authorities said Wednesday.

Trinh Thi Ngoc Diem, 27, a primary schoolteacher from Soc Trang province, was suspended Tuesday, four days after an incident in which she was accused of ordering the class monitor to gag four fellow 9-year-old pupils who she said were making too much noise.

One schoolgirl told her father who then reported it to the head teacher and local authorities.

Investigations revealed Diem had gagged other students on separate occasions for making too much noise, and Diem admitted gagging the children, officials said.

It was not clear how long she would be suspended from work because the investigation was still under way.

Although Vietnamese laws bar all forms of corporal punishment for children, the enforcement of these regulations is a challenge, according to Save the Children. In a country long influenced by Confucianism, the phrase 'spare the rod, spoil the child' is 'an excuse they [parents] use quite often, and for the children, they accept it as a natural matter,' the charity said.