Homepage > Thai Youth Issues > Pistol packing pupils

Date: July 2nd, 2001, The Nation

Checking vocational students for weapons before and after school would reduce the number of bloody brawls between rival institutions, Student Patrol Division director Assoc Prof Dr Nikhom Jarumanee said yesterday.

The Education Ministry, however, has declined to approve the measure, Nikhom said.

He had proposed the measure several times but the ministry refused to heed his advice, despite the fact that similar measures had been adopted in many foreign countries, he said.

"These weapons checks are easy to implement. We only need teachers to help pay more attention to their students or search them when they come into and go out of school," he said.

Teachers could also ask local shops to cooperate by searching their premises if there were grounds to believe that vocational students had left weapons there before entering an educational institution, Nikhom said.

The director said each school would require only two metal detectors to find weapons such as swords and guns. The devices were not too expensive, he added.

He attributed brawls among vocational students to many factors including extensive and unsupervised free time between classes, a lack of strict enforcement of the law, and senior students' instilling grudges against rival institutions in their juniors.

Students often hang out with friends and go out while waiting for their classes to begin, Nikhom said. Often they buy alcohol, which is against the law banning youths under 18 from buying intoxicating drinks.

Drunk students often picked brawls with students at rival schools, he said.

"Many students have been told by their seniors that those in other schools are their enemies. This is the root of the problem," he said.

Vocational Education Department director-general Charoon Choolarp called on teachers at vocational institutions to pay close attention to their students and said the schools themselves should acknowledge the fact that their honour lay in their students' outstanding performances.

"If the students are encouraged to devote themselves to constructive activities, they will have less time to pick fights," he said.

Charoon believed requiring all vocational students to wear the same uniform should help reduce the number of brawls.