MOET’s decision to prohibit beauty contests faces strong opposition VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has prohibited universities to organize beauty contests at the schools, saying that such the contests do not fit the education environment. However, the decision has been violently criticized by students. Duong Van Ba, Deputy Director of the Students’ Affairs Department of MOET, explained that the ministry has requested to stop the beauty contests organized at universities and junior colleges after realizing that a lot of the contests were organized in the way that should not be seen in a pedagogical environment.  “MOET never says it encourages or allows schools to organize any student beauty contest. Schools are the places where students are given the knowledge and skills to prepare for their future lives, and schools are not the catwalk,” Ba said. He went on to say that the beauty contests in no way help students in their lives and learning. They even badly affect the lives and learning of students. In many cases, the beauty and knowledge of the students, who won high prizes at the contests, have been exaggerated by mass media. As a result, the students nurse illusion about themselves, which may make them lose their way in the future lives. Responding to the argument that beauty contests for students are the useful activities for students to practice their live skills, Ba said that any students who believe that they have beauty and skills can attend the beauty contests organized by non-school organizations. Meanwhile, schools must not organize the competitions of this kind. It seems that MOET does not intend to reconcile with the schools on the issue. It has said “no” to the proposal by some schools which sought the permission to organize the pageants which have been planned for a long time. Meanwhile, the MOET’s decision has raised a strong opposition from university students. A lot of beautiful girls, who spent months long to prepare for the pageants, felt disappointed when hearing that their preparation was in vain, because no such a beauty contest would be organized any more. Not only students, educators have also expressed their disagreement on the student beauty contests. Dr Vu Khac Chuong, President of the Saigon Junior College for Culture, Arts and Sports, affirmed that the beauty contests are the useful extracurricular activities for students. This is the reason why most of universities and junior colleges organize the contests. Chuong emphasized that school should be the educational environment where students can receive knowledge, practice their skills and have culture exchange. Therefore, he cannot see any reasons to prohibit student beauty contest. Meanwhile, Lawyer Nguyen Huu Quyen from the HCM City Bar Association has affirmed that he cannot find any legal documents which say education establishments are not allowed to organize beauty contests. “MOET should have consulted with involved parties before it released the decision to prohibit the contests. However, it did not do this, thus raising the protests among students,” Quyen said. He went on to say that the current laws do not prohibit education establishments to organize beauty pageants, which means that no need to prohibit the activities. In fact, the contests should be seen as the useful playing field for students to compete with each other in terms of beauty and knowledge. The HCM City Students’ Association, after collecting opinions from students, has also expressed its official opinion that there’s no need to prohibit beauty pageants. Compiled by Thu Uyen