A total of 999,999 vocational students across the country will take an oath to end all inter-school violence, as a mark of respect for His Majesty the late King next week.
Suthep Chittayawong, secretary-general of the Office of the Vocational Education Commission (Ovec), said yesterday the agency would organise simultaneous ceremonies so students can vow to reconcile, as a way to express their grief over the passing of the King.
Student brawls among rival educational institutions, especially vocational schools, are a continuing problem. Countless attempts to end them have failed.
Some students have been sent to military-style boot camps. Rival schools were invited for talks which seemed to work briefly, before students returned to fighting to "settle scores on the streets".
"However, this is the time for our students to perform good deeds and show their love for His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej," Mr Suthep said.
He said the oath ceremony is one of several activities Ovec will organise. All vocational students from public and private colleges will take the oath next Wednesday, at 9.09am. All except 6,000 students will gather at their own colleges for the ceremony, he said. The other 6,000 will attend an event in Pathum Thani, he added.
Initially, Ovec wanted the 6,000 students from Bangkok and peripheral areas to attend a lecture by Education Minister Dapong Rattanasuwan and take the oath at Sanam Luang. But the location was changed to Pathum Thani Technical College as Sanam Luang is the main mourning site for the late King.
This event will end with the students singing the Royal Anthem together, Mr Suthep said.
Another plan to honour the late King is to encourage students to perform good deeds by helping people using knowledge learned from their courses, such as mechanics, the Ovec secretary-general said.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) yesterday also announced its intention to stage ceremonies involving seven million students and 400,000 teachers at over 30,000 schools under its umbrella to sing the Royal Anthem at the same appointed time on Dec 1.
Some students will also be ordained as novices temporarily to pay tribute to His Majesty the late King.
Obec's deputy secretary-general, Boonrak Yodpetch, said the ordinations are intended as a tribute to the late King and a way of developing ethical behaviour and instilling cultural values in the participants.
After the ceremony, these students will be novices for a short period of time before leaving the monkhood. During this period, participants will be educated in Buddhist precepts to the extent that they will be able to adapt religious principles to their worldly lives.
