More evidence of abuse found on Nonthaburi private school’s CCTV cameras

Parents say they have found more evidence of their children being abused on CCTV at Nonthaburi’s Sarasas Witaed Ratchaphruek School. Ronnarong Kaewphet, lawyer and chairman of the Justice-seeking Advocacy Network accompanied the parents of 10 students to the police station to file charges against the teachers that were seen allegedly beating up the students.

“Parents saw CCTV footage of two teachers punishing their children by beating them up. The footage also showed a teacher punishing a boy by putting a black garbage bag on the child’s head before pulling it down to cover his entire body. The teachers then threatened other students with the same punishment if they did not stop crying.”

“Earlier, when some parents found wounds on their children’s bodies, they questioned the teachers and were told the injuries came from children’s roughhousing. I then called on the school to provide me with all CCTV recordings, and they said they only kept recordings for three days. So, this clip only provides partial information.”

On Monday, school administrators announced it had fired 4 teachers after alleged abuse of a 3 year old, along with other kindergartners was caught on CCTV. The video showed one teacher pushing a toddler to the ground, hitting other kindergartners and dragging some across the floor.

Since the video came out and received widespread criticism, education officials say the other teachers should get into trouble for turning a blind eye to the abuse as well as the teacher who allegedly carried out the abuse. Now, the Teacher’s Council of Thailand and Office of the Private Education Commission is investigating the school and have agreed to refund tuition fees to parents for those who wish to unenroll their students from the school. Tuition for one semester at the school is reportedly 100,000 baht.

SOURCE: The Nation