Mass haircut punishment spurs probe

High school students show a petition seeking to scrap the regulation that authorises schools to set their own rules regarding students’ hairstyles. (File photo)
High school students show a petition seeking to scrap the regulation that authorises schools to set their own rules regarding students’ hairstyles. (File photo)

Education Minister Trinuch Thienthong has instructed state agencies to launch a probe into a school director and a teacher who allegedly cut students' hair as punishment for violating haircut rules in Phetchabun.

A video clip was shared on social media showing a teacher of a school in Bung Sam Phan district using scissors to cut more than 100 students' hair. He left them with ugly haircuts during morning assembly on Tuesday.

Ms Trinuch admitted the behaviour of the teacher was inappropriate as the ministry had already lifted hairstyle regulations in 2020 for both boys and girls.

The ministry will make a hairstyle policy for students in which they may wear their hair long or short. Schools will be given the freedom to come up with hairstyle rules suitable for their students.

However, cutting students' hair as a punishment is inappropriate and cannot be tolerated, she said.

She had told the Office of the Basic Education Commission to start a probe into the school director and teacher. The pair will face disciplinary action if their actions were proven to be incorrect, she said.

The clip was posted by Bad Student, a group that promotes the rights of students, on its Facebook page and also uploaded to its Twitter account.

Netizens condemned the actions of the teacher and called for the revocation of his licence. One netizen also urged the school to focus on teaching rather than student hairstyles.

Learn from listening

Click play to listen to audio for this story, or download to save the file
: :

Vocabulary

  • assembly (noun): a group of people who have gathered together การชุมนุม, การประชุม - การชุมนุม, การประชุม
  • condemn: to criticise something or someone strongly - ประนาม
  • disciplinary action: punishment of people who do not obey the rules - การลงโทษเนื่องจากการฝ่าฝืนวินัย หรือระเบียบ
  • inappropriate: unsuitable - ซึ่งไม่เหมาะสม
  • lift: to end a warning, a restriction, etc. - ยกเลิก
  • policy (noun): a set of plans or action agreed on by a government, political party, business, or other group - นโยบาย
  • probe: an attempt to find out the truth about an issue, problem or accident, made by an official group (or by the media); an investigation - การตรวจสอบ  การสอบสวน
  • punishment: an act or a way of punishing somebody - การลงโทษ
  • regulation: an official rule that controls the way that things are done - กฎระเบียบ
  • revocation: officially saying that something is no longer legal - การยกเลิก การเพิกถอน
  • right (noun): something that you are allowed to do, either by law or morally - สิทธิ
  • scissors (noun): a tool for cutting paper or cloth, that has two sharp blades with handles, joined together in the middle - กรรไกร
  • spur: to cause something to happen - ก่อให้เกิด 
  • tolerate: to accept something unpleasant without becoming impatient or angry - ทน ยอม
Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT