Image from a surveillant camera in Thạnh An School where the incident took place on September 4.

HCM CITY — Schools in HCM City have been requested to review plans to ensure security and safety and increase duty and supervision at school gates, hallways, and stairs after the incident of one student injuring five other students occurred at Thạnh An Secondary–High School last week.

According to the school's initial report, at about 6:35am on September 4, in the student restroom area of ​​Thạnh An Middle and High School, an incident occurred where a 7th grade student used a sharp object to injure five other students.

This student is eligible for special educational attention and support from the school.

Currently, specialised agencies are coordinating to fully evaluate the health and psychological status to reach an official conclusion.

As soon as the incident was discovered, security forces and school staff promptly approached, intervened, and controlled the situation, organised first aid and took injured students to a medical facility, then transferred them to Children's Hospital 2 and Từ Dũ Hospital 2 for further treatment.

At the same time, the school coordinated with Thạnh An Commune Police and related forces to verify and clarify the case.

By September 6, the injured students' health was basically stable. Among them, one student has been discharged from the hospital, the remaining students continue to be monitored and treated at medical facilities.

The HCM City Department of Education and Training determined that this is a serious school safety incident and is coordinating with the Police, local authorities and relevant units to fully verify the developments, causes and related factors.

The department required schools to closely monitor health and coordinate with medical facilities and families to provide timely counseling and psychological support for injured students and those who witnessed the incident and were psychologically affected.

The school was asked to assign homeroom teachers to continue monitoring and subject teachers to support and guide students' exercises, ensuring that learning is not interrupted during the treatment period.

The city’s educational establishments were asked to urgently review and synchronously deploy solutions to prevent, detect early and handle safety risks in schools.

Accordingly, schools need to review plans to ensure security and safety; Increase duty and supervision at school gates, hallways, stairs, toilets, hidden areas and times when conflicts easily arise.

Appropriate measures must be implemented to promptly detect and prevent the bringing of sharp objects, weapons or potentially dangerous objects into the school. — VNS