Unruly Thai Students Could Get Drafted

After two young technical school students shot at their peers on a city bus, Thailand's military junta is considering automatic conscription for unruly students.

Following the shooting, which injured four, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha invoked Section 44 of the country's interim constitution, which permits authorities to “detain students planning to fight with their rivals for up to six hours, and send them to the police, their schools, or their parents after”, reports Asian Correspondent.

Through this regulation, parents and even schools can be held responsible for the behavior of students. For instance, authorities would be able to demand a sum of money from a troublesome student's parents as a guarantee that their child would behave for at least two years after an incident. If he or she failed to cooperate over that time period, the money would be confiscated by Thailand's military government and deposited into a student protection fund.

Colonel Piyapong Klinpan, a spokesman for the National Council for Peace and Order, is also entertaining the prospect of having unruly students automatically conscripted into the military, bypassing the regular draft process and entering military service immediately after graduation. Though this particular punishment has yet to be approved, Thai leaders are looking into the legality of such a punishment.

The military junta vowed for the first time last week to impose Section 44 on the two students involved in the aforementioned shooting.

[Photo by via Getty Images]

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