September 19, 2025
HANOI – Việt Nam is turning the page on school discipline, abolishing expulsion and replacing it with mandatory self-reflection essays under new rules issued by the Ministry of Education and Training.
Circular 19, which sets out how students are rewarded and disciplined, replaces a 1988 regulation widely seen as outdated, which allowed expulsion, suspension and public shaming before the whole school.
For primary pupils, the new circular prescribe only two responses to misbehaviour: verbal warnings and – if problems persist – requiring the child to apologise. Teachers and administrators are explicitly barred from public criticism or any other sanction.
Older students may face stronger measures, but the options have been reduced to three: verbal warnings, formal reprimands, and self-reflection essays. These are linked to three levels of misconduct: behaviour that harms another student, behaviour that disrupts a class or group, and behaviour that affects the wider school community.
In the past, schools could issue five escalating punishments, including reprimands before the class or the disciplinary council, suspension for a week and expulsion for up to a year.
Now the strictest option is to require a student to write a self-reflection essay. This must be co-signed by the student’s family, who commit to working with the school to correct behaviour.
The essay is kept on file and is intended to help the student take responsibility, learn from mistakes and make amends for any harm caused.
The Ministry said the purpose of discipline is prevention and education: helping students recognise their behaviour, voluntarily change it, repair consequences and develop habits of self-control.
The circular requires that disciplinary measures be fair and free of prejudice. They must also be appropriate to a student’s age, health, gender, family circumstances and cultural background.
Physical punishment, humiliation, or any act harmful to a student’s dignity or wellbeing are strictly prohibited.
The rules also expand support for students who break the rules. Schools are expected to provide counselling, mentoring and monitoring and may require students to join social work programmes, skills classes or other activities designed to shift behaviour and repair harm. Families are expected to cooperate closely in the process.
Alongside discipline, the circular sets out a wide range of rewards, including praise in class, school-wide commendations, certificates of merit, letters of recognition and other forms of acknowledgment.