Police and the Ministry of Education in Tonga are investigating a video that went vital on the Internet, showing a college prefect repeatedly beating a bunch of year 9 and 10 students over a missing cell phone.

The video was taken in 2011, but only recently uploaded to the Internet.  The parents of at least one of the boys complained, after the prefect had the boys march past over and over, as he beat them with a 1.5-meter stick.

"I feel very sorry for them but I think the system now is working through counseling," said Tonga College principal Kaliftoni Latu, describing on how the system has changed.

Students say beatings are common, especially at boys’ boarding schools.  Some would say it’s culturally accepted, although not legally defined.  But parents are not accustomed to watching other people hit their children.