Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha has requested schools to halt the organising of an online game contest following public worry about its violence.

The minister recently received a letter from a parent with a grade five pupil. The father, Tran Trong An, expressed his worry about the contest’s negative impact on children due to its violence and continual requirements to have to VND10,000 (USD0.44) and VND300,000 (USD13.26) to participate.

The online game "Chinh phuc vu mon" is recently introduced to some schools in Hanoi

“Being a father, I want my children to learn and study in a healthy environment so that they can have more life skills, but not in an environment which encourages they to be interested in speed or using guns. I strongly oppose this!” An said.

An also disagreed with the recent comment of a representative from the Ministry of Education and Training that 'Chinh phuc vu mon' online game was a general knowledge contest for students like many others. The contest was ironically supposed to develop children’s creativity and IT skills so that they can avoid bad online games.

An noted that the ministry should clearly distinguish between e-learning and online games.

Many parents also shared the same worry with An, urging the Ministry of Education and Training to reconsider participation in the contest.

On December 9, the ministry requested primary and secondary schools nationwide to halt participation in Chinh phuc vu mon and will investigate the online game contest.

Chinh phuc vu  mon was first held in the 2014-2015 school year for secondary schools across the country. After that, it was continued to be organised for the second and third time in the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years, expanding to students of between grade 3 and 5 across the country.