Phước Ninh Secondary School in Tây Ninh Province where the case was reported. — Photo tuoitre.vn

TÂY NINH — A biology teacher at the Phước Minh Secondary School in Tây Ninh Province, who was alleged to have sexually abused several male students, issued an apology and resigned on Wednesday. 

“I was severely wrong, please forgive me,” he wrote in his testimony. “I cannot forgive myself for the rest of my life."

The teacher, named as N.H.N., said nearly two years ago, he joined an online social network for the LGBT+ community and noticed that one of his students was also a user. He approached the student and they eventually had sex, Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper reported. 

N asked the student about his close friends, who were eighth and ninth graders at the time, and requested each of them to help him “adjust his pant zipper”, according to the testimony. N also confessed having let one of the boys watch porn.

N said he knew his faults without having to be reported by the students. Therefore, from the second semester of the 2019-20 schoolyear, N “focused solely on teaching” and quit the social network.

“Please forgive me and don’t scorn me,” he wrote. “Your forgiveness will be the last pill to save my life.” 

On Tuesday, Tây Ninh Province’s Dương Minh Châu District Police heard students’ testimonies in the presence of their guardians and lawyers to prepare for a further investigation.

Several National Assembly (NA) deputies called for tougher penalties to be handed down to child abusers at the ninth session of the 14th-tenure NA in late May. 

Deputy Nguyễn Thị Thủy from Bắc Kạn raised concerns about risks posed by social networks to young users, urging the Ministry of Education and Training to include cybersecurity in the curriculum. She cited a survey conducted by the NA in which one of four children reported bad experiences while using social media. — VNS