[Vnbiz] Education Reform: Gifts for Teachers

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear CACC,

A couple of weeks back, anh Nguyen Viet Dung reminded us of Ngay Nha Giao on
November 20.  Today, some of my young relatives in Tay Ninh reminded me
again of that day, with not-very-flattering information.

Teachers at their schools are requiring students to give teachers gifts.
And the gifts are not supposed to be flowers (they don't last long).
Fragrance and more deluxe items were mentioned.  Students understand that if
they don't have expensive gifts, they won't have good grade (I don't know if
the teachers really spell this out.  But that is the students'
understanding).  Poor families that do not have enough to eat still have to
sacrifice many other things to buy expensive gifts so that their children
can have good grade.

Of course, we know that this kind of thing is happening in many parts of the
country, not just one school here and there.

So could we have some kind of government order that specifically limits the
value of a gift that each teacher may receive?  The limit probably should be
both individual (each individual gift has to be under certain monetary
amount) and total (the total value of gifts from each class has to be under
certain monetary amount).

Also we need to have some kind of campaign that tells teachers to teach
children good ways to show appreciation, instead of using The Teachers'
Day to train the little children in the art of robbery.

Have a great day!

Hoanh

-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
Attorney of Law
Washington DC
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