The flaw, in the Grade 3 Informatics Workbook published by Hue University Publishing House, came to light on April 8 after parents posted screenshots of the page on social media. The exercise instructs students to open Google Chrome, visit a website labeled as a children’s video site, and describe how the scroll wheel functions while browsing for clips. The address resolves to adult content.
The workbook has been used by every school in the Moc Chau area of Son La Province for three years, according to 8-4 Moc Chau Primary School, one of the schools that received parent complaints. The school said the link had previously functioned normally, leading to age-appropriate children’s videos, and suggested the original site may have been hacked or had its domain ownership transferred without the publisher’s knowledge.
Hue University Publishing House confirmed the same account to Read on April 9, saying the address originally hosted children’s songs but now leads to “content inappropriate for an educational environment.” The publisher said it had reported the case to the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Public Security.
Nguyen Tuong Tri, the book’s chief editor, explained to Vietnamnet the website was an open educational resource when his team selected it, offering animated videos and traditional folk games. “We haven’t checked it again recently,” he acknowledged. The book has been in classroom use since 2023 with no documented audit of its external links.
Nguyen Xuan Huy, chief of office at Hue University, told VTC News that Hue City Police’s PA03 cybersecurity unit had opened an investigation. He said the original link “was a very good address” and likely had been hijacked.
The book’s distributor, Dai Truong Phat Education Solutions, posted a public statement on its Facebook page on April 9 calling the matter a “serious technical incident” and disclosing that the same problem affects the Grade 3 Informatics textbook it also distributes. The company said it is coordinating with telecommunications providers to block access to the malicious link and is rebuilding its digital learning platform on what it described as a stricter security framework. “We are urgently rolling out remedial measures,” the statement said.
Neither the publisher nor the distributor has said how many schools across Vietnam currently use the books. Both urged students not to click the link and called on parents to vet online content before allowing their children to access it.
The textbook and workbook are classified as supplementary reference materials and are not on the list of textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education and Training, meaning their selection is left to individual schools and provincial education departments.
Comments are closed.