According to Thai media reports, the parent of a 7-year-old second-grade student at a school in Samut Prakan Province went to the police station on January 25 to complain, saying that her nephew and 36 other classmates were pricked in the mouth by a female teacher in the class.
The parent revealed that her nephew came home that night and told her that the teacher poked him in the mouth with a needle as punishment for his classmates who ate gum and threw it on the floor in class. The teacher enters the classroom, steps on the gum, and then asks who ate the gum, but no one answers. The teacher then sat the students in a row, lit incense, made the students swear, and then pricked the needle into the students' mouths.
Upon learning of this, the parents were shocked and questioned why the teacher would resort to such a form of punishment. The parents then contacted the school, but the school only advised the parents to calm down and asked them to wait for 3 days. Parents blamed the teacher and the school in a group of parents, fearing that the children could contract the disease because the 36 children shared a needle.
After receiving complaints from parents, the school's principal said that the teacher involved in the incident had been ordered to suspend his duties.
On January 26, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Committee Office of the Basic Education Bureau said that the two teachers involved had been ordered to be transferred from the campus and a committee had been set up to investigate. After initial verification, it was found that the teacher did impose punishment on the student. The committee will complete the investigation within 7 days to find out the reasons behind the teacher's actions.
To ensure the safety of the 36 students, the school has sent all of them for inspection, and the cost of the inspection is covered by the First Office of the Basic Education Service Area in Samut Prakan.
The Basic Education Bureau stresses that teachers must not use violence or physical harm when punishing students. For students who are not yet minors, because they may make mistakes due to ignorance, teachers can use warnings to educate them.
On the same day, the two teachers involved went to the police station to give statements and apologize to the parents of the students. Police have not yet charged the two teachers as they need to wait for the results of medical examinations for all 36 students. During the interrogation, the two teachers admitted that they did use pins to prick the children's mouths in order to educate the students to recognize their mistakes and to emphasize that they had no intention of harming the children.
（编译：wan；来源：matichon、Thaipbs）