A student prohibitionist group called on the education ministry Tuesday to draw up and enforce new measures to ban any sale of alcohol near schools.
About 30 members of a previously unknown Juvenile Network for Preventing Young People from Becoming New Drinkers submitted a letter to Education Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana, demanding action be taken quickly on three issues.
The group wanted the education and publlic health ministries to work together with "concerned agencies" to draw up proactive measures to ban or control the sale of alcohol in areas around schools and universities, and to show tangible results quickly.
The group suggested that regulations be drawn to ban all forms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities by alcohol-producing firms in academic institutions and agencies under them, including any sponsorship of school activities.
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They further called on academic institutions to organize campaigns stressing the adverse effects of alcohol consumption and related laws.
Theerapat Kahawong, described as the network‘s coordinator, said pubs and bars were prevalent and operating too close to colleges and universities. In some areas, students had so easy access to alcohol that they took less than seven minutes to travel from their institute to a bar.
He charged that almost all sellers of alcoholic beverage and pub operators were willing to sell to people under 20, the legal drinking age. He claimed that 260,000 juvenile become new drinkers each year.
In addition, almost 60 per cent of teen-aged criminals currently in juvenile observation and protection centres nationwide consumed alcohol prior to committing their offences, he added.
Photos by Sawitree Raksasit