A clip of a foreign teacher slapping a fourth grader during a private tutoring session has gone viral on social media. Photo from social media

GIA LAI — A nine-year-old pupil has been transferred to HCM City Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital after sustaining a ruptured eardrum from a slap delivered by a foreign English teacher at an unregistered tutoring centre in Quy Nhơn Ward, Gia Lai Province.

Leaders of the Quy Nhơn Ward People's Committee said on May 30 that local authorities had ordered all tutoring activities at 72 Lý Tự Trọng Street to cease after determining the centre had not been registered in accordance with regulations.

"I have directed the ward's Culture and Society Division to advise on the appropriate form of handling for the unregistered tutoring operation at this centre. Regarding the act of slapping the pupil, the ward police are gathering evidence, consolidating the case file and determining the extent of the child's injuries in order to proceed in accordance with regulations," a ward People's Committee leader said.

According to initial investigation, at about 9.15pm on May 23, Trần Đoan Na (born 1996, residing in Quy Nhơn Ward) reported to the ward police that her son, T.G.V (born 2016, a grade-four pupil at Trần Hưng Đạo Primary School), had been slapped in the face by his English tutoring teacher. Authorities identified the person who slapped the boy as Sharub T. (born 1988), an English teacher at the centre.

Earlier that day, the boy had attended an English tutoring session at the address. At about 3.40pm, Nguyễn Thanh Tịnh T. (born 1978, residing at the same address and wife of Sharub T.) sent a text message to Trần Đoan Na informing her that the boy had been slapped by the teacher for not paying attention in class.

When Na arrived to collect her son at about 4.15pm, she found his face swollen and red, with signs of ringing in the ears and headache. She took him to Gia Lai Province Central General Hospital for examination.

Speaking to Lao Động (Labour) newspaper on the morning of May 30, Na said examination results showed the boy had sustained an ear injury, with a ruptured eardrum caused by the blow. Doctors at Gia Lai Province Central General Hospital directed the family to transfer him to HCM City Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital for further treatment.

"My child has a serious ruptured eardrum that cannot be treated here, so we have had to transfer him to HCM City. His condition is not looking good, and our family is very worried," Na said. — VNS