A student at a school in Pathum Thani province suffered from a tendinitis infection in her feet and was unable to walk for two months after a teacher ordered her to squat 100 times as a form of punishment.
The case of injurious punishment at a school was reported on Monday at the twitter account @BadStudent, set up by a civic group which is campaigning for education reform. Parents of the injured student, who studied at Mathayom 3 at Sam Khok School, have filed charges against the teacher. The incident took place on July 22 when a teacher ordered students in class to do squats 100 times as penalty for opening the air con while they played football in class, despite Covid-19 preventive measures which banned such activity.
Tittima Boonpeng, the teacher involved, said she asked students who was responsible for defying the Covid-19 rules but no one spoke up. She then ordered students to do 100 squats as a penalty. The school had taken the student with injured tendons for medical treatment, she said.
Chuchart Tiangtham, a school director, said the school had now issued orders that penalties must take the form of in community service. Apart from taking care of the medical expense, the school allowed the student to study on-line until she was able to return to class.
The case comes as the education system is under fire for allowing teachers to use excessive means to punish students. Last week, a teacher at Sarasas Withead Ratchapreuk school in Bangkok was sacked after beating young children.