School cancels plan to mobilize students to see 'Southern Forest Land'

Ho Chi Minh City: The principal of a middle school said there was a mistake in encouraging students to watch the movie "Dat rung phuong nam", a movie that is causing controversy over historical factors.

At a press conference on the afternoon of October 16, Ms. Ho Thi Ngoc Suong, Principal of Dong Khoi Secondary School, District 1, confirmed that the school plans to issue an open letter to parents about letting students watch the movie "Dat rung phuong nam". The plan was made based on the proposal of the heads of the subject groups, as an experiential educational activity. The open letter was recently deployed by the Board of Directors to homeroom teachers of each class.

When preparing to release the letter, the school discovered errors in the presentation of the document, along with some conflicting views related to the film "Southern Forest Land", so it stopped and withdrew it. However, teachers in some classes had not yet updated this information and posted it in a group with parents. After that, the information spread online, causing much controversy.

"The school board takes full responsibility for this shortcoming," said Ms. Suong.

Ms. Ho Thi Ngoc Suong, Principal of Dong Khoi Secondary School, spoke at a press conference on the afternoon of October 16. Photo: Ha Giang — Ms. Ho Thi Ngoc Suong, Principal of Dong Khoi Secondary School, spoke at a press conference on the afternoon of October 16. Photo: *Ha Giang*

The leaders of Dong Khoi Secondary School also said that organizing a program for students to experience is a regular activity in the school's educational program. The plan is to let students watch the movie "Dat rung phuong nam" because the school believes that the movie has been licensed by the authorities for screening. The school wants students to experience and compare the original work of writer Doan Gioi with the film version.

According to Ms. Suong, the organization of activities for students to experience is only carried out by the school when there is agreement from the parents. Each activity has its own criteria to evaluate the results of the students. Similar to some other activities, if the organization of students to go to the movies is implemented, the school does not require it. If parents and students do not agree, the school will record their opinions and if they still do not agree, another program will be organized instead.

"As before, there were many activities such as school theater, puppetry, opera... to help students approach architecture, culture, and fine arts," Ms. Suong said, adding that these activities were carried out to combine practice with theory, so that students could experience and be more interested in learning as well as develop their qualities and talents.

Previously, on many forums of parents of students, an open letter from Dong Khoi Secondary School about organizing for students to experience integrating the subjects of literature, history, geography, local education and art through the activity of watching the movie "Southern Forest Land" was circulated.

The above class, according to the open letter, was held at a cinema, with an announcement of an attendance fee of 80,000 VND/student. Many parents disagreed because the class was held outside of school depending on the needs and voluntariness of students and parents. Not to mention, the above movie has been mentioned in recent days with many controversies about historical factors.

The film was criticized for causing misunderstandings when it "elevated the role of the Heaven and Earth Association". On October 15, Mr. Vi Kien Thanh - Director of the Department of Cinema - said that the producer proposed a plan to edit the film. Accordingly, the work will remove the names of the Heaven and Earth Association and the Boxer Association from the dialogues, replacing them with the names of the Righteous Association and the Southern Boxer Association. This change is to avoid viewers associating it with two groups from the Qing Dynasty in China.

Ha Giang

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