Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - The Vietnamese universities violence and immorality is rampant among the students. But many faults are due to the shallowness and corruption of teachers, as well as the ideological prejudices of  the leadership.

In recent days, a student of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry in Ho Chi Minh City threw 5 litres of acid into the face of his professor, Dr. Dang, deputy head of the faculty, also causing a further 13 victims. All are in the hospital. The student explained that his teachers accused him of being ignorant and stupid. This weakened him psychologically making it increasingly difficult for him to get good results: For three years he was unable to pass the English exam.

For the past several years the Ministry of Education has been promoting a campaign "No to negatives” to eliminate the social ills of the university, but it has born almost no fruit. The Vietnamese Prime Minister himself, at a conference on August 28 said that education in Vietnam has fallen very seriously low.

Indeed rectors and professors show no interest in their profession, to improve teaching techniques and content, to educate their students from the human point of view. Their fundamental interest is to maintain their positions of power and move up the political ladder. "They are only interested in money and business," said one student, "they have no care for the students and human relations. They are destroying the educational and cultural traditions of the population”.

Vietnam has 367 universities and research institutions, but only 320 courses have PhDs. Many heads of faculties and professors do not even have the professional qualifications for their teachings. In addition, there is a widespread corruption; falsified degrees, diplomas for sale, laziness at work. Often the funds allocated by the state for education are used for private purposes, investing or trading to get rich, impoverishing the educational  system and destroying the hopes of students.

Although the government continues to lament this, nothing changes. In contrast, the university is persecuting all those who want to redress the situation because of their faith or because they conduct themselves professionally.

Mrs. Truc [ a fictitious name, her real name is withheld for security reasons - ed] tells AsiaNews: "Students and assistants are victims of the university structure. Nobody cares about the greed of the professors or the disintegration of education. In return, I, Vietnamese and Catholic, am monitored and followed step by step. Plainclothes policemen following me wherever I go and when I teach at university, there are some students who take note of everything I say to find opportunities to accuse me in front of the university authorities. These are the same authorities who profit from the students without offering them anything in terms of an improved education system”.