Homepage > Thai Youth Issues > More children turn to selling drugs

Published on Jan 11, 2002 The Nation

The 50 or so participants in a seminar on children's problems all smiled when a researcher from the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) revealed that the numbers of child labourers in factories had been dropping as a result of the expansion of secondary schools to remote areas.

However, the smiles were soon gone when the researcher continued by saying that instead many school students had turned to a new kind of labour as "drug agents" in the schools.

Presenting her research at a seminar organised by Foundation for Child Development at the Royal Hotel, Suwanna Tulyawasinpong said children had become important players in the drug business because they needed money.

She said many school students used drugs and had to find money to afford the drugs they used.

Moreover, she said children were also introduced to the business by adults who saw a loophole in the law because of the light punishment for children.

Suwanna referred to a Narcotics Control Board Office paper that said in 1999 about 190,000 school students, or 1.4 per cent of students nationwide, were drug addicts.

Since 1996, prosecutions relating to narcotics had been increasing by about 36 per cent each year. In 1998, a report stated that 19,967 drug-related cases had been brought to the justice system, 20 per cent of which concerned children's involvement in the drug business, she said.

"This means the child-labour problem has not been resolved. The problem has just moved from cruel factories to schools, which makes the problem more complicated," she said.

According to Suwanna, the number of child labourers aged between 11 and 12 fell from about 3,000 in 1989 to about 1,000 in last year, while the number of secondary school students at this age increased from about 1,200 in 1989 to about 2,500 last year.

She criticised poor school management for failing to protect students from social problems.

Meanwhile, a doctor from Mahidol University's National Centre for Children Development and Family, Nittaya Kajapakdi, said besides poor management, the children themselves were a problem.

She disclosed that Thai school children had slightly low levels of intelligence. She referred to the university's 1997 research, which found that the average IQ of schoolchildren was 91, while the standard level is between 90 and 110.

"Although the average is still within the standard range, it almost drops below it.

"This is why they can not survive on their own in tough situations. They are unable to think, analyse or solve problems," she said.

The university conducted a study of 4,000 school students in 33 provinces.

Nittaya demanded that the government paid more attention to children. She said children could improve their IQ levels if the whole society helped them.

For example, she said the mass media should present only good programmes and information that would help children develop.

The government should also provide them with constructive alternatives and schools had to encourage them to think for themselves more.

Pennapa Hongthong

THE NATION