A school has come under fire for forcibly shaving male students during classes for "school discipline".
On Monday the school's official Facebook page shared pictures of teachers using electric razors to administer compulsory haircuts to male students, with the caption “school discipline by teacher and youth council.”
Photographs show the boys with large patches cut out of their hair, while the pupils report friends crying and say that girls laugh at them when they seem them.
Other images show a teacher brandishing an electric razor in the air as a full class of pupils watch. One student is seen covering his face with his hand while getting his head shaved.
Cambodia's Ministry of Education spokesperson, Ros Sovacha, confirmed they are investigating Samdech Techo Hun Sen Sampov Loun High School, where the combined lessons and haircuts for male students have apparently become widespread.
One commenter wrote on Facebook: “It’s their hair, it doesn’t affect their studies at all. As shown in the pictures, they didn’t even dye it, and the length seems perfectly fine.
"What is the point of doing this? I think this is an act of harassment, you shouldn’t be this proud of your action and post a whole album like this."
Even the country's Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has instructed the school, in Battambang, northwestern Cambodia, to stop the practice.
The deputy head teacher said that the school had decided all male students are required to cut their hair, telling the Khmer Times: “We have set the school discipline has been in place for a long time."
She also said it was in compliance with the school’s rules.
One grade 11 student, who wished not to be named to protect his identity, said to VOD English: "I’m frustrated that they shaved my hair as it was not even long. I do love my hair, but now it looks disgusting.
"They shaved it from the bottom to the top of my head."
He added: "A few of my friends cried while losing their hair.
"Now, it is hard to see people — girls laugh when they see us. Villagers jokingly ask me if I just left a correctional centre. It’s hard to accept now."
School director Bot Bonna said in a statement that the management team was enforcing the school’s dress code.
“There are some students who do not have the proper haircut. That is why the teacher decided to shave their hair. This rule has been in place since 2017,” he said in the statement.
However, Yim Sinorn, a well-known supporter of the dissolved opposition party, wrote: “The teacher’s hair is longer than the students. Should the teacher be punished like this?”
