A senior teacher in Nakhon Ratchasima who smacked a high school student around the head and forced him to remove his trousers in front of other pupils is to be transferred to a new school.
Isoonpiyathorn Juthatham was deputy director at Soeng Sang School, but was suspended after a video clip went viral late last month showing him administering his "punishment". The transfer comes after an investigation found him guilty of using an inappropriate show of force.
"At first, he didn't want to be transferred," said Chukiet Viset-sena, director of the Office of the Nakhon Ratchasima Secondary Education Area 31 after a recent talk with a remorseful Mr Isoonpiyathorn.
But for "the sake of appropriateness", the teacher later accepted the transfer, which will take effect on Sept 7. He agreed to have himself relocated to a small high school in tambon Chorakhe Hin in Nakhon Ratchasima's Khon Buri district.
Mr Isoonpiyathorn will keep his position as deputy director at the new school.
However, legal action against him continues. Authorities are considering imposing further disciplinary action against him, based on his "lack of ethics" and "impolite" behaviour toward students.
Mr Isoonpiyathorn found himself in hot water after he punished the Mathayom 5 student in a burst of anger. The teenager was among a group of students who were protesting against a school policy to charge them 200 baht each to fund its mobile SMS service, and were refusing to disperse.
Fellow students, who labelled the teacher's actions aggressive, recorded the incident, and one clip was posted on the internet.
Mr Isoonpiyathorn had previously been facing a lawsuit by the student's parents, but they later dropped the lawsuit after the teacher admitted he had made a mistake and apologised.