Corpun file 2473 at www.corpun.com

Bangkok Post, 17 September 1996

Headmaster said to be overly harsh

By Sirikul Bunnag

Some 100 people from Lao Khwan in Kanchanaburi are demanding action against a local headmaster, who they say is guilty of assaulting their children.

Parents' representative Suna Boontim has filed a complaint with the Education Ministry.

Mr Suna said many pupils at Khao Wong Phra Jan School were now "off sick" because they dared not go to school.

This, Mr Suna claimed, was because of what happened on August 26.

It is alleged that on that date the headmaster, Uthai Ditpraphan, administered between 13 and 15 strokes of the cane to each member of the Prathom 4, Prathom 6 and Mathayom 1 forms.

The headmaster was angry because he had forbidden the pupils to leave their classrooms, but they had gone out all the same, apparently because they had been given permission by another teacher.

The parents have asked the district office of the National Primary Education Commission to investigate, but according to Mr Suna, the officials concerned have ruled that the headmaster was not acting unreasonably.

Mr Suna said the villagers wanted the headmaster moved away from the area because he lacked the ability to get on with the local pupils and "he goes too far emotionally".

He claimed that many pupils did not want to go to school for the reason that the headmaster had threatened to expel them if they told their parents about what he had done.

Mrs Tuen Khiewvilas claimed the headmaster had given her son 11 strokes of the cane.

Mrs Tuen said that on the day of the alleged mass caning, and on earlier occasions, the headmaster had ordered a special punishment for several pupils after they made mistakes in arithmetics.

This, she claimed, involved pupils being ordered to knock their fists against the concrete floor 100 times.

Ten pupils were caned in front of the entire school for failing to keep their classrooms tidy, Mrs Tuen claimed.

She said her son had to be admitted to hospital after he was punished by the headmaster.

She has filed an assault charge with the police against the headmaster.

The Deputy Secretary-General of the National Primary Education Commission, Suwat Ngern-cham, said he would order provincial officials to review their investigation into the case.

If the conduct of the headmaster was found to be improper, he would be transferred from the area, Mr Suwat said.