School of HCMC apologizes after Forbes Under 30 post sparks public outcry

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Students inside the High School for the Gifted campus at HCMC, 2021. Photo courtesy of its Facebook page

A high school in HCMC issued an apology on Saturday after its recent Facebook post of a former student honored in the Forbes Under 30 list sparked public anger.

Earlier this week, the High School for the Gifted released information that its alumnus Ngo Hoang Anh has been honored in the Forbes Vietnam Under 30 list in science and education.

However, the post quickly sparked a debate after many former students of the school accused him of sexually harassing them.

Most of the victims said that when they were still studying at school, Anh often texted them, using many “sensitive and sexually explicit” words.

In the apology letter posted on the school’s official Facebook page, its vice principal, Tran Nam Dung, said the school was negligent in publishing the Forbes Under 30 information because it had by inadvertently affected former students who had spoken out about his behavior in 2020.

Dung said he did not “thoroughly” address reports of Dung’s action to make him aware of his misconduct and to seriously apologize to fellow students.

“I assure that I never thought of condoning or harboring an act of sexual harassment,” he said.

A school representative said Tuoi Tre anonymously that “The school has not taken any specific action in the past to help students protect themselves from sexual harassment. We express our deepest sympathy for the pain that former students have experienced. We pledge to take our responsibilities to the parties involved to settle this matter in accordance with Vietnamese law.”

Anh, 22, is studying for a Masters in Statistical Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh Medical School in the UK. He had previously achieved outstanding achievement during his tenure at the High School for the Gifted.

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