THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Netizens fume as teacher forces student to kowtow to shoes

Netizens fume as teacher forces student to kowtow to shoes

Facebook users reacted angrily after seeing a video clip of a teacher in Ubon Ratchathani placing shoes on a student’s head and forcing him to kowtow to his footwear as a punishment.

The clip was posted on the DR.K.v3 Facebook page on Friday. Within 12 hours, the post had got more than 330,000 views and was shared over 7,800 times. The post appeared to have been later removed.
The clip showed a female teacher placing a pair of shoes on a boy’s head. When the shoes fell down, she was seen angrily stomping them and forcing the boy to kowtow before his footwear five times. She was then seen placing the shoes on the boy’s back and forcing him to crawl into his classroom. 
The punishment was witnessed by some 50 classmates.
The school rules bar a student from wearing footwear when moving to the upper storey. Students are expected to carry their shoes and leave them outside the classroom.
Many Facebook users commented angrily that the teacher should not have inflicted such a humiliating punishment on the student. Many suggested that it would have been better if she had caned him instead of humiliating him in this manner.
The boy, a 13-year-old seventh grader at Thung Therng Ying Wattana School in Tambon Thungthern in the Dej Udom district of Ubon Ratchathani province, told The Nation that the incident happened at 11am on Friday when he moved from one classroom to another. He said he forgot about the school rule and went upstairs wearing his shoes, which was noticed by the teacher and hence she had punished him.
The boy said he was not aware who had shot the video clip.
The boy said he did not feel humiliated but he thought the teacher could have punished him a different way.
His sister, who did not want to be named, said the family had filed a complaint at the Dej Udom Police Station against the teacher. The family has also raised the issue with the teacher’s superior.
Dej Udom police chief Pol Col Pattarapol Phothi-ah said police are gathering evidence after which the teacher would be summoned for interrogation.

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