Tougher penalties for brawling students

The federation’s president, Jompong Mongkolvanit, is now seriously pushing for this measure.
“Students, not just their schools, should face punishment,” he said.
Brawling students should be blacklisted and their records shared with the Student Loan Office.
“This way, students who cause trouble will understand that they just can’t leave this school and easily enrol at another school instead.
“When their name is on the blacklist, they risk losing their chance to secure a student loan,” Jompong|said.
Student brawls have become a hot issue lately after three students from the Pathumwan Institute of Technology were gunned down in Bangkok this month in killings that were described as “revenge for the recent death of a female student of a rival institute”.
The Office of Private Education Commission (Opec) secretary |general Bundit Sriputtangul said |an institute was now being monitored closely, as its students had already engaged in two serious brawls.
“If its students are found to have been in a brawl one more time, it will be barred from accepting new students in the next academic year,” Bundit said.
Such measures usually forces the punished institute to gradually close down in the end, he said.
Four other educational institutes were also being watched, he said, as their students had already engaged in one brawl each.
“Three brawls and you will be punished,” he said.
Bundit spoke after attending a meeting with representatives of 18 vocational schools/colleges who came together to address how to prevent bloody brawls among vocational students.
In response to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s policy, it has already been agreed that apart from a ban on new enrolments, any institute whose students engage in a brawl will also be closed for three to seven days immediately after the fight occurs.
At the meeting, participants also agreed to implement extra measures such as the different school times and school breaks among rival institutes. All the participant institutes were seen as having a high risk of students getting into brawls.