Better ways to discipline wayward pupils
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There can be no excuse for a primary-school teacher in Ang Thong striking a student 40 times on his bottom for failing to clean his classroom. Teacher Cherngkol Ngamplod wanted to teach his student discipline.
Corporal punishment is illegal in Thai schools, as per Ministry of Education Regulation on Student Punishment (2005) and the National Committee on Child Protection Regulation on Working Procedures of Child Protection Officers Involved in Promoting Behaviour of Students (2005), pursuant to Article 65 of the Child Protection Act. I should add that Sathit Pratumwan and Sathit Prasarnmitr, where my kids and I went to, never resorted to such methods.
The school should have hired other students and billed the errant boy’s parents or had the boy’s parents clean the classroom. The lesson thus taught would have lasted far longer than a spanking and also been legal.
Burin Kantabutra
