A 7-year-old boy in Thailand, during a class break, was driven by hunger to steal marshmallows from his teacher's desk because his mother couldn't afford to buy him food. The 23-year-old teacher responded by hitting his face with a steel ruler, slapping his mouth with her hand, grabbing and choking his neck, and forcing him to clean the bathroom, causing the child both physical and psychological harm. The teacher, accompanied by her own mother, came to the boy’s home to apologize and explained that she was suffering from depression. The teacher even slapped herself several times on the spot, but the boy’s mother was unable to forgive her.
According to Thai media outlet LPCM News, the 48-year-old mother tearfully explained that on her son's birthday, she couldn’t give him pocket money to buy snacks. The child, without telling the teacher, took the snacks from the teacher’s desk and was severely punished as a result.
After school, the boy was found by his mother sitting at the door, his face and neck covered in bruises. Upon questioning, the mother uncovered the truth.
"My heart is broken. I feel endless pain for my child. Now, my boy says he doesn’t want to return to school; he fears being beaten by the teacher again. I demand the school must transfer this teacher," the mother stated.
Community leaders and representatives shared that the teacher involved had called to apologize and ask to settle the matter quietly, but the community leaders emphasized there would be no tolerance for such a serious case of child abuse, which could also happen to other students.
Other teachers at the school revealed that this teacher had a habit of locking children in a room as punishment, usually acting discreetly and rarely showing aggression to outsiders.
Additionally, village elders stated that the child’s mother had tried to report the incident to the police, but was initially refused on the grounds that the child had a previous record of taking things. It was only through the intervention of the elders and Karnan, the school board chairman, that the police finally accepted the case.
The boy’s mother and community leaders issued a formal statement vowing to pursue the matter to the end to protect the safety of all students, calling on relevant authorities to immediately remove the teacher from her post and to prosecute her under the law.
The boy’s mother also revealed that the teacher, led by her own mother and carrying a gift basket, came to apologize, but the apology was not accepted. During the visit, the teacher suddenly slapped herself several times, but was stopped by the boy's mother. The teacher’s mother told the boy’s mother that the teacher suffered from depression and asked for the incident to be withdrawn, offering compensation, but the boy’s mother refused to accept it.