Thailand -- classroom caning

In this 30-second clip, a student receives one stroke of the cane in the classroom. It dates from 2006 at the latest; possibly up to a few years earlier.

The event has been captured on the cameraphone of, presumably, a passing student and is seen from above through the classroom window. Maybe the person taking the film knew this caning was going to take place, or perhaps he or she just noticed what was happening and was quick enough to start filming it. If the latter, it seems possible that the punishment was already under way and that the one stroke we see being delivered was but the last of several. There is really no way of knowing.

At all events it does not look like a very serious punishment. The teacher makes a great show of taking aim beforehand. But, as school canings go, it is not a hard stroke, and some of the class can be heard to cheer when it finally lands, which suggests a certain atmosphere of jocularity.

Nevertheless, the student is seen to clutch his bottom immediately afterwards.

CP has now been banned in Thai schools, though there is some anecdotal evidence that the ban is not being very rigorously enforced. The former regulations for school CP in Thailand said that it should take place in private, not in front of other students. But that rule clearly was not always obeyed.

HERE IS THE CLIP: