A school in Buriram province was left stunned after one of their longest serving teachers was accused of sexually harassing students for the past 20 years.
Since the accusations were made, the school has suspended the 54-year-old physical education (PE) teacher until further notice.
According to Siam Rath, the news has caused many parents to become concerned with the safety of their children.
Source: Siam Rath
Reports say that the PE teacher was very brazen and would often sexually harass female students while their friends were present.
One example given was that he allegedly sexually harassed a girl while she was having lunch with her friends in the school cafeteria.
Source: Siam Rath
When reporters arrived at the school, they found a muted atmosphere despite it being the period for student applications.
A sign outside the school indicated that it was accepting students from grades seven to 10 between 19 and 23 March.
Source: Siam Rath
One parent expressed concern over her children’s safety after the news broke.
Despite the school suspending the accused teacher, the parent said they were worried that he might avoid being charged if he had connections to authority figures.
However, the parent had their child apply for the school anyway as a backup choice, just in case.
Meanwhile, Panisara Senaphan, who had just taken over as school director around two months prior, was blindsided by the revelations.
Since news broke, she has been meeting with the other teachers daily to figure out how to win back the trust of both students and their parents.
Source: Khaosod English
As a preliminary measure, the school established additional channels of contact to report concerns from students and parents.
According to Khaosod English, it is unclear whether or not complaints had been raised against this particular teacher previously.
So far, no formal charges have been levied against the teacher.
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Featured image adapted from Siam Rath.