Khon Kaen rallies around family of girl who died in locked pickup

By KRITMET LOHO 
THE NATION

 

 

Khon Kaen Governor Somsak Jangtrakul has offered aid and grief counselling to the family of five-year-old Kabinta “Nong Yam” Kehphuang, who died on Monday after being inadvertently left inside a locked pickup truck in sweltering heat for eight hours.

 

Somsak said the Tambon Huai Moung Administrative Organisation, which supervises the school in Phupha Man district that Kabinta attended and outside of which she died, had offered to sponsor four days of funeral rites and the cremation.

 

Representatives of the Khon Kaen Social Development and Human Security Office visited the family and gave them Bt2,000 in initial assistance.

 

More financial aid is forthcoming, including Bt20,000 from the Department of Older Persons, since Kabinta lived with her 70-year-old grandmother, Phetch Noikaew.

 

The district office has also appealed for public donations for the family.

 

The girl’s death – the eighth such fatality since 2012 – prompted her teacher, Phichitra Sudtana, 32, to seek treatment for shock at Khon Kaen Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital.

 

Phichitra was charged with recklessness resulting in another person’s death and released on bail. Her failure to realise that Kabinta had been left in the pickup truck is being blamed in part on school understaffing.

 

Governor Somsak ordered administrative organisations in 26 districts to ensure there were more than 1,000 teachers or staff members at their 396 kindergartens, and that they were checking more frequently on the 19,000 pupils registered.

 

The order extends to some 1,000 schools elsewhere in the province.

 

Somsak said school directors would soon be assembled to discuss further measures, possibly including the introduction of bar-coded student ID cards that would track their arrival at and departure from school and notice any missing pupils.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30348191

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-20

"Her failure to realise that Kabinta had been left in the pickup truck is being blamed in part on school understaffing."

Not good enough,best just take responsibility for your actions,nothing can excuse the teachers

actions, she just forgot about the kid.

RIP little one.

regards Worgeordie

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Somsak said school directors would soon be assembled to discuss further measures, possibly including the introduction of bar-coded student ID cards that would track their arrival at and departure from school and notice any missing pupils.

Forgive me being a dinosaur, but isn't that usually referred to as a school register?

You don't need high-tech just for the sake of it.

When it becomes faulty, the first they will be aware of it is when another kid dies. Plus, it will allow one kid to swipe two in, or swipe someone else in entirely.

With the traditional register, the class teacher knows all the kids faces and names.

This is looking to technology to find a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

 

2 hours ago, worgeordie said:

"Her failure to realise that Kabinta had been left in the pickup truck is being blamed in part on school understaffing."

Not good enough,best just take responsibility for your actions,nothing can excuse the teachers

actions, she just forgot about the kid.

RIP little one.

regards Worgeordie

 

I can recall growing up in a western country, my parents asked me a million time in many many different scenarios 'did you check?'

 

In my country it was a normal lesson for 99% of kids as they grew up, you never assume things, you always check.  

 

'Did you turn off the xxxx?' If I responded with 'I think it's OK' or similar, I got an immediate response:

'Your assuming it's off, go and check' perhaps being escorted quickly to the item with mum or dad having two fingers squeezing my ear lobe. 

 

I did the same thing with my Thai son, my Thai in-laws were horrified about my 'violence' and many times I got told 'your too serious'.

 

My Thai son now does the same thing with his 3 kids, they know if they tell a lie by saying they checked and their father finds that the xxx is not turned off etc., they will be quickly punished (but not with violence). Example: One daughter responded that she had checked she had all her books in her school bag. In the afternoon her teacher mentioned 'your daughter was missing most of her books for today'..

 

In the car (all 3 kids in the car) son announced 'This morning I said we would all go to the pizza restaurant for dinner, now cancelled'. Then he asked all 3 'why did I cancel Pizza'?

 

The youngest who is very forthright quickly responded:  'because she said she checked her bag and she didn't, she told a lie'. Very good reinforcement.

 

All part of bringing up kids. 

 

 

i know this happens in other countries also but in thailand imo the general mind set-attitude of . "sabai sabai" and mai pen rai .      = so so relaxed and joyful and unaware is highly relevant 

In the 17 years in the rescue game it is unreal the amount of calls we would get about children or animals locked in cars at shopping centres while mainly mum ducked in to just get a couple of things which turned into doing the full weeks shopping. We carried special hammers with a diamond point in our own vehicles because sometimes we could be at the scene quicker than the police and we would just smash the window of the car. To us it was nothing but sheer negligence by the parent and it is the same with this teacher because she was negligent in her duty as the childs carer whilst at that school and why didn't she do a simple head count to ensure all her children were with her.

R.I.P. little one and full sympathy to the family

This really is not about a few baht in " assistance money " for the grief stricken family

It should be about getting their childs murders bought to justice

Nothing will ever replace their precious child, but long prison terms will certainly aid the recovery process

May God keep you safe baby