Senior students of a private vocational college who were caught on camera forcing freshmen to undergo ugly and violent hazing are facing internal punishment and could be expelled, the institute’s executive said Wednesday.
Jomphong Mongkhonvanit, director of Siam Technology College in Bangkok, admitted it was likely that the youths involved in the widely criticised hazing video clip were students of the campus but said the institute wanted to examine it further before confirming this.
“If the young men who took part in the activity are found to be students of the college, they may face the punishment of dismissal, especially the most senior ones, because their behaviour in the video was quite violent,” Mr Jomphong said.
“If they are alumni, the matter will proceed in line with the law.”
A video and photos, posted on Monday by Facebook user PangPondSiamGear, show seven or eight young men in swimming trunks transferring food to each other mouth-to-mouth, and a senior student spraying flames between a freshman's buttocks. Wounds can be seen on some of the students' bodies.
The post was deleted the following day after it went viral and received a barrage of negative comments. The hazing is believed to have been held on a beach in Prachuap Khiri Khan province.
Adinan Pakbara, chief of the Office of the Private Education Commission, said the agency had instructed the college to invite the students and their parents for an inquiry and warn them that they must not do it again.
Mr Adinan said the hazing ritual in question violated a person’s rights and the Private School Act which stipulates that all privately-owned schools must not allow any practice deemed a threat to national security and culture or is contrary to good morals.
“Whether a prosecution will be launched against the student who sprayed flames to the freshman’s buttocks is a legal matter as this was a personal offence,” Mr Adinan said.
The college would investigate the incident and report its findings to the commission. The campus would have to share the responsibility over the disgraceful incident if families of the freshmen complained or if it was found to have ignored its duties in supervising the freshman initiation ritual, he added.
Education Minister Gen Dapong Ratanasuwan said he had instructed officials to review measures previously given to all academic institutes and determine why they failed to prevent a repeat of inappropriate hazing activities.
He said officials must address the problem directly by themselves instead of issuing instructions.