A KINDERGARTEN STUDENT ARBITRARILY FEEDS YOU PEANUTS (PEANUTS) BROUGHT FROM HOME TO WORK YOU HAVE AN ACUTE ALLERGY CRITICAL ANAPHYLAXIS: THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CLASS TEACHER TO CONTROL FOOD?

The preschool education environment always poses high risks to the health and safety of young children due to the peculiarities of this age group not having sufficient awareness to protect themselves. The case of a preschool student arbitrarily sharing food brought from home, causing him to suffer from critical anaphylaxis is a serious warning bell about the responsibility of teachers to supervise and control strange foods and school health management.

1. Summary of the actual situation (The Case)

At Kindergarten X, during the free play time at the bud class (4-year-old children), Nguyen Hoang M arbitrarily took out a bag of ready-roasted peanuts (peanuts) from home in a briefcase and shared it with his tablemate Le Phan K. Immediately after eating a few seeds, Ms. K showed signs of itching, urticaria all over her body, shortness of breath, pale purple lips and quickly fell into a coma due to acute anaphylaxis (history of Ms. K was severely allergic to beans and nuts, but the homeroom teacher did not thoroughly cover this information from her family).

At the time of the incident, the two teachers in charge of the class were busy cleaning the toy cabinet in the corner of the classroom, so they could not detect it in time to prevent the children from eating strange food. When they saw that K fainted, they panicked and carried him to the school health room for first aid and emergency transfer. K’s family was extremely frustrated by the teacher’s negligence and sent a request to the school management board and the authorities to clarify the responsibility for managing and supervising students during class.

Let’s analyze a real situation below with MSc. Nguyen Huu Long to find a complete solution both logically and emotionally.

2. Legal perspective – “Solid shield”

In terms of law, when parents send their children to kindergartens, the school and directly the classroom teacher are obliged to ensure absolute safety in terms of health and life for children during the time they live at school.

Regulations on liability for compensation for damage, food safety and educational environment

Article 584 of the Civil Code 2015 (Grounds for incurring liability for compensation for damage): Stipulating that any person who commits acts of infringing upon life, health, honor, dignity, property, etc. And Clause 1, Article 10 of the Law on Food Safety 2010 (amended and supplemented in 2018) (Rights and obligations of food consumers): Regulations on the right to food safety, and at the same time, management and nurturing organizations (such as kindergartens) are obliged to control the source of food put into children’s bodies to prevent the risk of poisoning. allergies.

Clause 1, Article 23 of the Law on Education 2019 (amended and supplemented in 2025) (Position, role and objectives of preschool education): Determining the goal of early childhood education is to help children develop comprehensively physically, emotionally and intellectually; Schools must ensure that children are nurtured, cared for and educated in a safe and healthy environment.

Principles for determining errors and responsibilities in learner management

According to Clause 1, Article 23 of the Law on Education 2019 (amended and supplemented in 2025):

“Article 23. Position, role and objectives of early childhood education

Early childhood education is the first level of education in the national education system, laying the foundation for the comprehensive development of Vietnamese people, nurturing, caring for and educating children from 03 months to 06 years old.”

Apply to the situation:

On the part of teachers and schools: The fact that teachers allow students to arbitrarily bring strange food from home into class without checking their backpacks at the beginning of the class, and at the same time lack of observation during playtime for children to arbitrarily feed each other, leading to anaphylaxis is irresponsible behavior in management. violating Clause 1, Article 23 of the Education Law. Therefore, according to Article 584 of the Civil Code, the school and the teacher must be jointly responsible for compensating all costs of treatment for K.

Legal conclusion: Kindergarten X and two teachers in charge of the class have violated the obligation to ensure food safety and child care safety specified in the Law on Education and the Law on Food Safety. The school must take civil responsibility for compensation for damages, and at the same time handle strict discipline for classroom teachers due to lack of sense of responsibility, causing serious consequences.

3. Perspective of Psychology – Education – Governance – “The Key to Humanity”

Psychological & Educational Aspects (Ethics of Conduct)

Emergency medical crisis in the preschool classroom: An incident of anaphylaxis that occurs suddenly often causes extreme panic for both teachers and other children to witness. If the teacher loses his temper, the wrong handling of first aid will directly threaten the child’s life. In terms of professional ethics, the neglect of even a few minutes of teachers is a reprehensible behavior, seriously undermining society’s trust in love and dedication to school.

In terms of asset risk management

Strict management process of strange food items brought by children from home to class: The school lacks a standard process for controlling children’s food and personal items at the beginning of school. Preschool children often have the habit of hiding sweets and nuts in bags to bring to class, if there is no strict review from teachers, the risk of choking on foreign objects or food allergies is always permanent.

4. Comprehensive solution of Expert Nguyen Huu Long

In order to thoroughly overcome management gaps and improve school health response capacity, expert Nguyen Huu Long proposes solutions in the following 3 steps:

Step 1 – Emergency handling and remediation: The Board of Directors coordinates with the family to focus maximum medical resources for K. The school needs to organize an emergency meeting with all class teachers to clarify responsibilities, make a decision to temporarily suspend the work of negligent teachers to conduct a review, set up a disciplinary council to handle strictly in accordance with the Education Law.

Step 2 – Standardize the process of controlling strange foods from home to class: Issue regulations that prohibit parents from allowing their children to bring food, confectionery, nuts (especially allergenic substances such as peanuts and seafood) from home to school. The homeroom teacher is responsible for picking up the child in person, performing a quick check of the child’s book bag in the early morning to confiscate and manage the household of strange items and food (if any). Set up a “Child Allergy History Diagram” to hang right in the classroom so that all teachers know which students are allergic to which foods.

Step 3 – Training in anaphylaxis management skills and school medical drills: Schools need to actively coordinate with competent health facilities to organize mandatory training courses and drills for all teachers and school health staff on early recognition of allergy signs. poisoning, choking of foreign objects and emergency anaphylaxis emergency protocol. Prepare a full number of emergency medicines at the school health room to be ready to activate the life-saving process during the “golden hour”. AS ABOVE