AUTHORITIES are set to update the Teachers’ Ethics guidelines, which was first introduced in 1959.

“We need to bring these guidelines into line with today’s world,” Independent Committee for Education Reform chairman Charas Suwanwela said this week, adding that it would also be necessary to place an emphasis on safety issues.

“We need to make it very clear what is allowed and what is prohibited at schools,” he said.

Charas was speaking after attending a meeting with the Office of Education Council.

“As teachers have influence and power over students, there is a risk that they may abuse their authority. So, we need to introduce measures that protect students’ safety,” he said.

For instance, he said, teachers and students, especially those of the opposite sex, should not be allowed to spend time behind closed doors.

Also, he said, teachers should not be given the authority to hit students.

Watanaporn Ra-ngubtook, the office’s deputy secretary-general, said safety issues will be also integrated into the new guideline.

Charas, meanwhile, said he has recommended education in the arts, in the hope that the educational system will not be too preoccupied with technology.

“Students need to learn about art and humanities subjects,” he said.

Assoc Professor Tisana Khammani, who chairs the panel working to update students’ competency, said her team had noticed that many students were still unable to apply their knowledge to real life.

She said 10 new competencies have been identified as new guidelines for Prathom 1 to 3 students.

“We have tested them at 24 schools already and have got a positive response,” Tisana said.

These 10 competencies are Thai language for communication; mathematics in everyday life; scientific inquiry and scientific mind; English for communication; life skills and personal growth; career skills and entrepreneurship; higher-order thinking skills and innovation; media, information and digital literacy; collaboration, teamwork and leadership; and active citizen and global mindedness.

“We need to shift from rote-learning and focus on being practical,” Tisana said, adding that this will help initiate big changes in Thailand’s educational sector.

“We will also have a national curriculum and learning institute soon,” she said.

Such pills, which are now widely advertised on the Internet, are very likely to contain the tranquiliser alprazolam and are sold overseas under the brand name Xanax.

“The number of reported crimes involving such drugs has been rising,” said ONCB secretary-general Niyom Termsrisuk.

These psychoactive drugs have sedative, hypnotic, anxiety-reducing, anti-convulsant, muscle-relaxant and amnesic side effects.

They are therefore usually prescribed to patients suffering from alcohol dependence, seizures, anxiety disorders, panic, agitation and insomnia.

However, when they are abused, they can be very dangerous to women.

Victims of sex crimes, for example, will hardly remember anything if they are inadvertently fed such drugs and violated.

Indeed, the sellers of such drugs wilfully promote them as “virginity loss” pills and thus attract buyers who have bad intentions.

“Drugged victims are often sexually abused or robbed,” said Niyom, who pointed out that alprazolam was classed as a prescription drug and could not be sold over the counter at pharmacies.

Thai law, moreover, has prescribed harsh punishments for those who commit offences related to it.

An unlicensed importer, manufacturer or exporter of alprazolam faces a prison term of between five and 20 years and a fine of between Bt500,000 and Bt2 million, while an illegal seller faces a term of seven to 20 years and a fine of Bt700,000 to Bt2 million.

A person found to be in illegal possession of the drug is also liable to a jail term of between one and five years and/or a fine of Bt20,000 to Bt100,000; for an abuser, the maximum sentence is three years and/or a maximum fine of Bt60,000.

Nevertheless the drug has still apparently leaked into Thai society and led to criminal offences being committed.

ONCB has therefore asked police to closely monitor entertainment venues so as to prevent any of their customers from abusing it.

Niyom has also urged parents and teachers to keep watch of their children or students to make sure they aren’t led astray.

In a related development the Consumer Protection Police Division has taken action against a person advertising “virginity-loss pills” on social media.

Pol Colonel Chanannat Sarnthawanpaet, a superintendent at the division, said yesterday that Kanyamon Sathianram, a woman living in Nakhon Ratchasima province, had been arrested in connection with the Facebook page.

Found in her possession were several drugs that claimed to boost sex drive and products advertised as “virginity-loss pills”. “The pills so far are in fact made of chlorine,” Chanannat said.

Kanyamon has been charged with selling modern medicines without permission and selling so-called medicine items that were not listed as drugs.

If convicted of both charges, she could be jailed for up to eight years and/or also be fined.

In response to this, the Child Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Centre (CSIP) has stepped up pressure on the Tourism and Sports Ministry by listing the concerns about child boxing raised by well-known international organisations.

The organisations include the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), the World Health Organisation and the US Labour Department.

A letter from AAP addressed to the Royal College of Paediatricians of Thailand “applauds” Thailand’s efforts to prevent children from sustaining injuries, but stresses that sport in which children “intentionally attempt to cause harm to the opponent” was unacceptable.

Over the past decade, the AAP has worked with other agencies to cut down on the harm caused to children involved in extreme sports.

“Boxing, including kick-boxing, exposes children to an unacceptable risk of injury, and therefore their participation in these activities should be prohibited,” it said, adding that the death of the 13 year-old boxer underscored the urgency to end this practice through law.

On November 10, 13-year-old muay thai fighter Anucha Thasako died from brain injury after a blow to his head knocked him down during a match in Samut Prakan.

CSIP said child boxing was “unacceptable” because injuries can have a long-term impact on the child’s mental development and can be considered a serious case of child labour.

“These child boxers are encouraged by their parents and boxing camps to fight each other to earn money for their family and generate income for the camp. Gamblers also bet on them. This deplorable practice continues despite the fact that the sport damages the children’s still-developing brain and leaves them with incurable learning disabilities and other physical and mental health impacts for the rest of their lives,” Dr Liviu Vedrasco said.

Vedrasco, a programme officer at World Health Organisation (Thailand), was speaking at the 13th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion last month.

The Boxing Bill needs to be passed as soon as possible so children can be protected from harm and not taken advantage of, he said.

CSIP’s statement also cited the 2017 report on the Worst Forms of Child Labour issued by the US Department of Labour, which lists muay thai as one of the worst forms of child labour in Thailand. The report puts these paid boxing matches right up there with the cruel seafood processing industry, human trafficking, commercial exploitation and dangerous street work.

CSIP director Dr Adisak Plitpolkarnpim said the law needs to be passed urgently, and for it to become a law during this government’s tenure, the bill must be submitted to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) by the end of December.

“If we miss out on this opportunity, we will need to start all over again from square one,” he said.

It has taken about five years for the effort to ban child boxing to get this far, he said. It took roughly two years before the amendment to the 1999 Boxing Act was finally handed over started by the NLA’s subcommittee on social development, children, women and people with disabilities and then send to the subcommittee and  sports, he said.

However, the bill has raised a hot debate.

On the one side, prominent muay thai fighters, boxing camps and match organisers are strongly objecting to the bill, saying fighting offers a way out of poverty for many and boxers have to start learning the art of boxing from a young age.

On the other side, doctors and children’s rights activists are for the bill as research shows signs of brain damage in young boxers and they see the sport as a case of child labour.

Not only is education in Taiwan very affordable, with tuition fees for undergraduate and graduate schools at less than US$2,000 (Bt65,000) per semester, but more than 11 universities in the country have been listed among top Asian institutions by QS Asia University Ranking.

“Thai students will also benefit from Taiwan’s technological and educational strengths,” Dr Tung Chen Yuan, representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office told The Nation.

Taiwan has also been offering 20 to 25 full scholarships that cover tuition fees and living allowances exclusively for Thais, with the aim of providing human resources for the 10 industries that are part of the Thailand 4.0 scheme, Tung said.

“We are trying to bridge Taiwan’s educational advantage with the Thai government’s goal, so we can promote more economic cooperation in the future,” he said.

Thailand 4.0 scheme targets digital economy, medical tourism, agriculture and biotechnology, robotics, aviation, medical technology, among other things. This aims to help the Kingdom escape the so-called middle-income trap.

Apart from this, Taiwan is also encouraging Taiwanese students to seek internships in Thailand, so they can not only learn the Thai language, but also gain a wider knowledge of Thai culture, economy, politics and the business climate, Tung explained.

“This is a win-win solution for Thailand and Taiwan,” he said, adding that these internships will boost Taiwan investment in Thailand, as investors will be able to communicate in Thai, English and Mandarin and also understand both cultures.

He explained that education is the foundation of stronger understanding among people, and can also boost tourism, trade and investment in the long run.

In a move to increase the number of Thai students, Taiwan is making the visa process easier by increasing the number of hospitals qualified for mandatory health examinations and cutting the requirements for Chinese proficiency tests for students aiming to study Mandarin.

Information on scholarships can be found on Taiwan’s official website (www.roc-taiwan.org). The country’s economic and cultural office, apart from promoting education opportunities in Taiwan via social media and exhibitions, has also published 10 reasons why Thais should study in Taiwan.

In 2017, only 1,600 of the more than 100,000 international students enrolled in Taiwanese universities were Thai, a low number compared to Malaysia (16,051), Indonesia (5,074) and Vietnam (4,774), according to World Education News Review.

These initiatives are part of Taiwan President Tsai Ing Wen’s new “Southbound Policy”, which was introduced in 2016 to strengthen ties in the Indo-Pacific region, especially in Asean.

In the long run, the pro-independence Taiwanse government hopes to boost trade and investment in other regions so it can stop depending on China. Currently nearly half of its goods are shipped to mainland China.

The 800-rai site in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Pak Chong district was established to promote sustainable soil management and an exchange of soil data and information at the global and regional levels via research and development as well as capacity building programmes, said Rapibhat Chandarasrivongs, assistant permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

CESRA was built in accordance with this year’s theme “be a solution to soil pollution”, he said.

The country was this year endorsed by the Global Soil Partnership to host the regional centre for 24 countries.

The Land Development Department will lead the work on empowering Asean and communities groups to raise awareness about soil resources and stimulating discussion and action about sustainable soil management among policymakers and the public, he said.

World Soil Day on December 5 focuses attention on the importance of healthy soil and advocating for the sustainable management of soil resources.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has supported the formal establishment of the international day to celebrate and raise a global awareness of soil.

The day corresponds with the official birthday of HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Ronald Vagas of the FAO Global Soil partnership said the CESRA action plan would be finalised at the Asian Soil Partnership meeting from February 26 to March 1 in New Delhi.

Jong-Jin Kim, deputy regional representative of the FAO, said about 33 per cent of soil was already degraded and the rest was deteriorating at an alarming rate.

Pollution was one of the 10 major threats to soil health. Growing cities produced mounds of garbage that end up in landfill with residues leaching into the soil.

“One-third of the plastic produced globally ends up in our soil. Plastic particles are polluting our soil, entering the food chain and the environment, and into our oceans as has been so clearly and alarmingly seen this year,” he said.

Kim said the prevention of soil pollution must be a top priority worldwide. Tackling the problem through education and awareness raising remains the best way to maintain healthy soil and food safety.

They are also essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the zero hunger target.

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is an FAO special ambassador for zero hunger.

The team, comprising police, forest officers and security officers, said they seized 42 teak logs from the sawmill and arrested a man called Sia Yuth, selling teak to the mill.

The logs lacked the required stamps and documents from Loei province in the northeast were forged, the task force said.

The FPOC has been trying to break international logging gangs and late last year managed to intercept padauk being transported out of the country using fake documents.

The fake documents from Loei led to the arrest of the man yesterday (Tuesday) using the similar tactic.

Teak must be authorised for logging by the authorities before being transported with official documents. Officers said they found fake stamps on the documents during the raid.

The force would expand investigations to pursue those responsible for the smuggling, said Cheewapap Cheewatham, chief of Phayai Prai task force.

Rosewood is often the main target but has become harder to find, meaning demand for padauk and teak has grown.

No one was injured in the blaze, which took fire-fighters more than three hours to extinguish. Damage, including to several rooms in the apartment building, was estimated at more than Bt30 million.

“We still don’t know how the fire started,” Pol Lt Colonel Adul Thongpetch of Lad Krabang Police Station said.

The plant was cordoned off amid concerns it might collapse.

Security guard Chainarong Utaikan said a worker eating at a food shop in front of the plant noticed the fire at about midnight and alerted him, followed immediately by an explosion.

He saw flames in the section of the plant where scrap paper and plastic were stored.

He called the police and more than 30 fire trucks soon appeared on the scene, though the narrowness of the soi barred access to some of the trucks.

Fire-fighters also had to contend with the scrap piled up, delaying efforts to put out the blaze.

December 5, the day in 1927 on which the late monarch was born, is now marked as Father’s Day and as National Day.

Ceremonies were organised to pay tribute to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama IX), who passed away on October 13 two years ago. Among them were alms-giving rituals, which took place in every province.

Many of those making merit were clad in yellow, the colour associated with the late King’s birthday. In Bangkok, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, his wife, and senior figures joined alms-givers at Sanam Luang. The food and items collected by monks there will later be given to flood victims.

Worapun Suwannus was among provincial governors leading alms-giving ceremonies across the Kingdom as he oversaw the ritual in Phichit province.