A ladies’ faculty in Thailand has apologised after dealing with backlash for reportedly punishing a pupil with an uneven haircut for breaking grooming guidelines.
Photographs of the botched lower, performed with odd scissors meant for slicing paper, went viral, sparking public outrage over what many labelled “outdated” disciplinary practices.
The workers accountable has obtained a proper warning and the Narivooth Faculty, a non-public all-girls establishment in Ban Pong district in Ratchaburi province, mentioned it should reassess its disciplinary measures.
Till Thailand’s Supreme Administrative Court docket overturned a decades-old rule in March, public faculties in Thailand have been required to implement inflexible coiffure rules – cropped cuts for boys and shoulder-length hair for ladies.
For the reason that ruling, particular person faculties have been granted the authority to set their very own grooming insurance policies.
A photograph shared on 15 July on a Fb group referred to as “All Ban Pong information” confirmed the scholar’s hair crudely hacked – jagged and uneven in size. One aspect fell to her waist, one other stopped mid-back, whereas the centre hung awkwardly beneath her shoulders.
“Is that this actually acceptable behaviour from the college?” the caption on the Fb submit learn. “Even when there are guidelines, college students have emotions, too. There needs to be a greater solution to clear up the issue. It’s not proper to only seize a pupil and lower their hair like this.”
Two days after the submit went viral, Narivooth Faculty took to Fb to difficulty a public apology. The varsity expressed “honest apologies to the scholar, her mother and father, and all involved events” and acknowledged the general public’s anger and discomfort over the incident.
“We worth the rights and dignity of each pupil,” the assertion learn.
The submit, nonetheless, invited extra scrutiny. One Fb person wrote: “What proper do you need to do that? That is actually not okay.”
Others referred to as on the scholar’s mother and father to file a police grievance towards the college.
The varsity mentioned it will revise its disciplinary strategy by adopting “extra acceptable and age-sensitive strategies” that align with “instructional ideas and respect for human rights”.
Regardless of a rising push for pupil rights, pressured haircuts stay a disciplinary tactic in lots of Thai faculties, in line with The Thaiger.
A 2022 survey revealed that almost three-quarters of respondents – 74 per cent – reported the continued use of haircutting as punishment.
The observe has sparked repeated public backlash. In a single incident in 2022, a pupil at a secondary faculty in Nakhon Ratchasima province covertly filmed a trainer shaving uneven bald patches into the hair of ten male classmates.
The video, as soon as on-line, drew swift condemnation, with many netizens denouncing the act as degrading and a transparent breach of youngsters’s rights.
In 2023, a viral video emerged exhibiting a trainer in northern Phetchabun province slicing the hair of greater than 100 college students as punishment for violating grooming guidelines.
