Thai students defy school dress code on the first day of the second semester

 

 

Students at several schools in Bangkok have purposely not worn the specified school uniforms today, the first day of the second semester, in a collective show of civil disobedience.

 

The defiance of school uniform regulations is in response to a campaign by the Bad Student group, who believe students should have the right to wear whatever they like, as a school uniform has nothing to do with education.

 

At Samsenwittayalai public school, one male student was seen wearing the orange and yellow outfit of the iconic duck mascot of the Ratsadon anti-establishment group over his uniform, while a female student wore multi-coloured headgear, the symbol of the LGBT movement. The majority of the students, however, wore their uniforms. One Mathayom 5 student said that the uniform means extra expense for parents, while students already have casual clothes and should be able to wear them to school. Another said that all students carry ID cards, to prove who they are, so there is no need for uniforms.

 

Boonyapong Pothiwatthanat, the school director, said this morning that the school was unprepared for this situation, so they allowed all students to enter the compound.

 

He said, however, that the students must be reminded of the dress code, which is still enforceable, and that those who do not abide by it will be dealt with according to the regulations, but they will not be barred from attending class.

 

The Office of the Basic Education Commission earlier instructed all schools not to ban students from wearing casual clothes, but maintains that the school dress code still applies.

 

The Bad Student group said on its webpage today that it will compile a list of schools, which are forbidding students, who do not wear uniform, from entering the school and summoning parents to school to discuss the issue, and will denounce them on its webpage. The webpage has, as of 10.06am today, received 174 complaints from students at Saint Joseph’s Convent School, followed by 114 complaints from students at Sarawittayalai School and 65 from students at Si Racha School.

 

According to The Isaan Record webpage, students at Kaen Nakhon Wittayalai School, in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen, who were not wearing uniforms, were separated in a conference hall and barred from attending the daily playing of the national anthem.

 

Education Minister Nuttapol Teepsuwan accused those behind the no-uniform campaign of being cruel and of manipulating students into conflict with their educational institutions.

 

He said that he has the responsibility for enforcing the regulations, adding that officials and schools are still in the process of working out an appropriate solution to the school uniform issue.

 

The minister noted that there may be problems if students nationwide are allowed to wear casual outfits every day, but hinted that it may be possible to allow students to wear casual dress once a month, while claiming that over half of the students and parents are happy with school uniforms.

 

Source: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-students-defy-school-dress-code-on-the-first-day-of-the-second-semester/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2020-12-01

 

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It's all to do with control and conformity but nothing to do with education. 

1 minute ago, uncleP said:

It's all to do with control and conformity but nothing to do with education. 

 

   Its about the kids being equal and the rich kids not wearing expensive designer clothes and the poor kids not wearing rags .

    

  

9 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

 

   Its about the kids being equal and the rich kids not wearing expensive designer clothes and the poor kids not wearing rags .

    

  

Nonsense, the rich kids aren't in those schools, they are studying abroad

Go kids go a small part of bringing down the nuthouse ???????? 

1 minute ago, CLW said:

Nonsense, the rich kids aren't in those schools, they are studying abroad

  

  Richer kids then , Parents who can afford expensive new clothes for their kids , whilst some kids will be wearing old hand me down clothes 

27 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

students should have the right to wear whatever they like, as a school uniform has nothing to do with education.

These people have literally no idea what they are talking about.  They're children and lack the knowledge/experience and the cognitive ability to make a sensible decision here.

 

A school uniform has masses to do with education.  It literally has a positive effect on education.  Lack of school uniform has a negative effect.  How can that possibly mean that it has nothing to do with education?

 

27 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

One Mathayom 5 student said that the uniform means extra expense for parents, while students already have casual clothes and should be able to wear them to school.

Increasing the amount of time spent wearing your casual clothes (which must surely mean they would be more expensive than the uniform) means they will wear out quicker.

 

27 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Another said that all students carry ID cards, to prove who they are, so there is no need for uniforms.

You cannot see an ID at a glance, you can see a uniform.  If someone ran into the school they would not stick out if students did not wear uniforms.  You would need to know there was an intruder and then check every student.  Ridiculous.

 

Next?

34 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Boonyapong Pothiwatthanat, the school director, said this morning that the school was unprepared for this situation,

Well, at least now we know you weren't hired for your planning skills khun Boonyapong.

 

Although I understand the situation, I do feel that all students wearing a uniform is the lesser of two evils. I don't, however, understand - or agree with - students needing a different uniform for everyday of the week. Complete and utter waste of money and an additional cost for many parents, especially those who struggle to make ends meet. I wonder  do any of these school directors have shares in school uniform shops? 

14 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

whilst some kids will be wearing old hand me down clothes 

Which cost nothing apart from alterations while poor mums keep kids from school because they cannot afford the uniform(s)!

 

 

 

30 minutes ago, uncleP said:

It's all to do with control and conformity but nothing to do with education. 

From what I can see, schools here have very little to do with education either. Lots of bowing, waiing, brainwashing and making money in the form of tuition fees, lunch money, x different uniforms which, as far as I can tell, have to be bought at such and such a shop. THEN, after all this, students still need extra tutoring just to learn what they should have been taught at school. 

 

12 minutes ago, fangless said:

Which cost nothing apart from alterations while poor mums keep kids from school because they cannot afford the uniform(s)!

 

 

 

 

   They are legally required to send their kids to school .

If they can afford non uniform clothes, then they can afford uniforms .

  Every Mother in Thailand can afford to pay for school uniforms , 

Benefits are pretty well known. Just a few:

• Lowering student victimization
• Decrease gang activity and fights
• Differentiating strangers from students in school buildings

WIKI:  ... in the first year of the mandatory uniform policy in Long Beach, California, officials reported that fighting in schools decreased by more than 50%, assault and battery by 34%, sex offenses by 74%, and robbery by 66%.^[42]

 

For example Vietnam schools, surely the boys study harder.

 

 

 

 

Brave youngsters...

 

As Jefferson Davis once said 'The seed corn of a nation..'

At least they were not physically abused for not conforming

30 minutes ago, djayz said:

Well, at least now we know you weren't hired for your planning skills khun Boonyapong.

 

Although I understand the situation, I do feel that all students wearing a uniform is the lesser of two evils. I don't, however, understand - or agree with - students needing a different uniform for everyday of the week. Complete and utter waste of money and an additional cost for many parents, especially those who struggle to make ends meet. I wonder  do any of these school directors have shares in school uniform shops? 

I've never seen daily school uniforms in Thailand. Are you thinking of Thai Colors of the Day? That's why Thai often wear red on Sundays. 

 

3 minutes ago, rabas said:

I've never seen daily school uniforms in Thailand. Are you thinking of Thai Colors of the Day? That's why Thai often wear red on Sundays. 

 

The Thai kids in my area often wore different uniforms for different days...for example..scouts,sporting and in senior years, military wear.

 

Here is military (cadet)wear..and sports clothing.All had to be paid for...and it was no different in the government schools and was a great financial burden-I helped out with costs in the case of half a dozen youngsters or so..and very pleased that I did..

 

55 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

They are legally required to send their kids to school .

As usual a bold and false statement from you not based on facts.  Parents do NOT need to send their children to school. 
Home-schooling is legal in Thailand. Thailand's constitution and education law explicitly recognize alternative education and considers the family to be an educational institution. A home-school law passed in 2004, Ministerial Regulation No. 3 on the right to basic education by the family, governs home-schooling.

45 minutes ago, rabas said:

I've never seen daily school uniforms in Thailand. Are you thinking of Thai Colors of the Day? That's why Thai often wear red on Sundays. 

 

They have to wear a scout's uniform on at least one day a week. I distinctlybremember thinking everytime I see them what they could possibly be learning about the boy/girl scouts at school. Then, there's the separate uniform for "sports day". Again, me often wonders why there's a whole school day per week dedicated to sports. Finally, there's at least one more uniform, the typical white shirt and shorts/skirt one. So, maybe I exaggerated a little when I implied that there are 5 uniforms, nevertheless, 3 different uniforms are still two too many IMHO. 

39 minutes ago, fangless said:

As usual a bold and false statement from you not based on facts.  Parents do NOT need to send their children to school. 
Home-schooling is legal in Thailand. Thailand's constitution and education law explicitly recognize alternative education and considers the family to be an educational institution. A home-school law passed in 2004, Ministerial Regulation No. 3 on the right to basic education by the family, governs home-schooling.

 

  Yes, home schooling is allowed , but I don't think that uneducated poor parents  would qualify for the home schooling scheme .

  In the instances of what we are talking about , parents who cannot afford a school uniform, are highly unlikely to qualify for being a parent/teacher .

19 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

 

  Yes, home schooling is allowed , but I don't think that uneducated poor parents  would qualify for the home schooling scheme .

  In the instances of what we are talking about , parents who cannot afford a school uniform, are highly unlikely to qualify for being a parent/teacher .

 

Read the act on home schooling and remember this is Thailand (TITS)! where the observance and how the implementation of rules are or are not applied!

 

Please do not bother to respond to me on this, or anything else for that matter, as I have nothing more to say to you on this.

 

 

36 minutes ago, fangless said:

 

Read the act on home schooling and remember this is Thailand (TITS)! where the observance and how the implementation of rules are or are not applied!

 

Please do not bother to respond to me on this, or anything else for that matter, as I have nothing more to say to you on this.

 

 

 

   You are suggesting that Parents who cannot afford the 1000 odd Baht for a school uniform will decide to take a 10 years off work, buy all the necessary  school books and home school their kids !!!!!!!!

  Potentially losing 1-2 million Baht in wages over ten years , spending 10's of 1000s of Baht on school books , just to save themselves having to buy school uniforms !!!!!!

  I dont think so

The more I read this, and similar threads, the more I want to take my boy back to Europe for schooling... 

Empty heads, but they have time to parade around waving flags... 

2 hours ago, djayz said:

Well, at least now we know you weren't hired for your planning skills khun Boonyapong.

 

Although I understand the situation, I do feel that all students wearing a uniform is the lesser of two evils. I don't, however, understand - or agree with - students needing a different uniform for everyday of the week. Complete and utter waste of money and an additional cost for many parents, especially those who struggle to make ends meet. I wonder  do any of these school directors have shares in school uniform shops? 

My son started M4 this year. Some days he wears a white shirt, black shorts and black canvas shoes, other days he wears a blue shirt and blue track suit bottoms and white trainers. I can't remember the price of the white/black kit but the blues come in at 460 baht per set.

 

He still has last years Scout uniform but he hasn't worn it so far this year. He has also joined the Army cadets and that uniform cost me 2,900 baht. So he has a choice of 4 uniforms to wear. To allow for laundering he has 3 sets of white/black kit and 4 sets of the blues. He wears which one size fits all socks and wears a hole in at least 1 pair a week at 25 baht a pair.

 

He has plenty of other clothes to wear

2 hours ago, CorpusChristie said:

 

   They are legally required to send their kids to school .

If they can afford non uniform clothes, then they can afford uniforms .

  Every Mother in Thailand can afford to pay for school uniforms , 

You can get T shirts and shorts from the market from around 50 baht each. One set of my sons blue shirts and track suit bottoms (obtainable ONLY from the school) is 460 thb.

 

PS not every mother in Thailand can afford to pay for school uniforms, especially since so many people have lost their jobs due to Covid.

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

PS not every mother in Thailand can afford to pay for school uniforms, especially since so many people have lost their jobs due to Covid.

I regularly have to give my staff personal loans at the start of the school year. It is a burden that most parents do not need.

4 hours ago, CorpusChristie said:

 

   They are legally required to send their kids to school .

If they can afford non uniform clothes, then they can afford uniforms .

  Every Mother in Thailand can afford to pay for school uniforms , 

Simply not true

even the scabbiest schools have about 4 daily uniforms each week

Why cannot secondhand uniforms be used or poorer families and only one uniform at that

 

Answer someone's making money out of it

4 hours ago, bangsaenguy said:

At least they were not physically abused for not conforming

Not in Public anyway

2 hours ago, djayz said:

The more I read this, and similar threads, the more I want to take my boy back to Europe for schooling... 

Empty heads, but they have time to parade around waving flags... 

What a nasty commend

6 hours ago, uncleP said:

It's all to do with control and conformity but nothing to do with education. 

 

They should look to the U.S., where there aren't any school uniforms and schooling is completely based on education, freedom, liberty and equality for all. Leaders of the free world. 

59 minutes ago, poohy said:

Simply not true

even the scabbiest schools have about 4 daily uniforms each week

Why cannot secondhand uniforms be used or poorer families and only one uniform at that

 

Answer someone's making money out of it

 

  Because some parents send their kids to school wearing the same unwashed clothes everyday , and they are filthy  by Fridays .

   A different colour uniform everyday encourages the parents to send their kids to school in clean clothes .