Chaturon said a team of Vocational Education Commission officials would look into suspected physical abuse of new students at Thanyaburi Technical College, in which seniors allegedly assaulted freshmen, threw hard objects at them, stepped on them and burned them with molten candle wax.

Chaturon said five to six students initially found involved in the bullying would face criminal charges as adults if they were over 18. Any other students found approving the use of violence as a way to earn respect from younger students or sympathising with the seniors would be subjected to rehabilitation.

Vocational Education Commission managers and administrators at other vocational or general schools would also be disciplined if harassment took place under their stewardship.

"If they let the hazing happen again, it shows that they cannot oversee their own schools, so we need to find them another job and have someone else do their work," he added.

Weerasak Wongsombat, secretary-general of the Vocational Education Commission, said if the criminal prosecution against the senior students resulted in their expulsion from school, he had no choice but to let it happen.

"We have to set a model case to discourage others from following suit," he said.