A row over a woman who held up a sign alleging sexual abuse in schools has put a spotlight on harassment in the education system.

However, the woman has been accused of damaging Thailand's image.

"I hope my case will raise awareness for people in society, for students in schools, for adults who send children to schools, for teachers and for the Education Ministry," Nalinrat Tuthubthim, 20, told Reuters.

Ms Nalinrat, now a university student, had made allegations on social media of being sexually harassed at school several years ago.

But she grabbed attention at the weekend when she dressed in a high-school uniform at a protest in Bangkok, put black tape over her mouth and held up a placard that read: "I have been sexually abused by teachers. School is not a safe place."

Detractors criticised her for not being a real high-school student and she was bombarded with abusive messages. Some shared screengrabs of her Instagram account showing recent pictures in which she had modelled revealing outfits.

"When a non-student wears school uniform, when you draw this much attention from society and from social media, you need to take responsibility for it and what follows," said Pareena Kraikupt, a member of parliament for the Palang Pracharat Party of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Senator Somchai Sawangkarn condemned Ms Nalinrat for damaging the country's image and said she should be punished if an investigation of her accusations found them to be untrue.


Her supporters have argued that the message should not get lost in the questions over whether she chose the right form of protest.

"Successive governments have promised to make schools safe for children but little has been done in reality to end sexual harassment and other abuses," said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

In a high-profile case in March, a teacher was put under investigation after students accused him of molesting students in exchange for better grades.

But student groups say the problem is far more widespread, both in school and beyond.

A YouGov poll in 2019 found that one in five Thais had experienced sexual harassment, with men almost as likely to face it as women. The most common form of sexual harassment was sexual assault — reported by 44% of those who had suffered harassment. Only 10% said they reported incidents to police.