Relatives of ‘slapped’ student say they will file complaint

Relatives of a Mathayom 2 schoolboy, who was slapped in the face by his teacher at the Sa Kaew’s Aranyaprathet district school, say they will still take action against the teacher. Sa Kaew is to the east of Bangkok on the Cambodian border.

They have told local police that they, and the boy, have allegedly been harassed and threatened by teachers and other individuals at the school.

The alleged harassment is contrary to an earlier comment made by Aranyaprathet School director Prasarn Leudthahan that a “calm and measured resolution” had been reached.

Prasarn said that the teacher Binnarong Srichan, whose slapping of the schoolboy’s face to punish him for making noise during other students’ class presentations on August 14, was caught on film and quickly went viral. This prompted criticism of his overly violent reaction and the teacher apparently apologised to the boy’s parents that same day. He claims that the parents had indicated they didn’t want to pursuit charges against the teacher.

Saying that he had already reported the incident to the Educational Service Area 7 Office, Prasarn said Binnarong also went to the student’s house and found that the boy wasn’t wounded and the boy reportedly apologised to him for disturbing other class members.

Prasarn also said that Binnarong submitted his resignation on Thursday to the “Kru Phu Song Khun Kha Haeng Phaendin” (“Most valuable teachers of the land”) project under which he was hired on a yearly contact at 17,000 baht a month, citing a health problem.