Thai Schoolgirl Learns To Smile Again After Teacher Assault

BANGKOK, May 3, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 03rd May, 2017 ) : There were moments when Naruedee Jotsanthia thought she'd never smile again. The Thai schoolgirl says she was left facially disfigured last year after a teacher threw a mug at her head.

The attack, which went viral and sparked renewed debate about the country's deeply hierarchical education system, locked one side of her face in a downward droop and left her unable to close her left eye.

"When I saw my face, I just couldn't accept it," the 18-year-old from Thailand's impoverished northeastern Korat province told AFP.

"I thought about hurting myself. I really just could not believe it." Naruedee had always dreamed of becoming an air hostess, but felt there was little chance an airline would ever consider hiring her.

Yet eight months on she is smiling again thanks to months of costly medical therapy and daily exercises funded by strangers. "I might not be 100 percent normal," she said, a hint of paralysis still visible on her left side. "But I am very satisfied already on what I have achieved so far. At least I can smile again."