Police in Ang Thong province are seeking legal action against a former school director and four others for alleged involvement in “importing” and sheltering 126 Myanmar children. 

The former school director was identified as Kalaya Tasom, formerly of the Thai Rath Wittaya School in Pa Moke district, police said. 

Pa Moke’s superintendent, Pol Col Sakchai Kraiveeradechachai, said that, after identifying their nationality, the children, aged between 7 and 16, were handed over to immigration officials on Thursday for repatriation.  

Sakchai claimed, however, that the suspects’ activities did not amount to human trafficking. 

The plight of the children came to light when Kalaya allegedly sought their registration at the school with the provincial primary education office, to secure financial support. 

Her registration attempt led to an investigation into the students at her school, which has one director, one teacher, a temporary teacher and a clerical employee, but had 137 students and almost none of them could speak or communicate in Thai. 

The school, which has small number of registered students, is at risk of being shut down. Therefore, the ex-director may have brought the Myanmar children in to avert potential closure. 

The investigation also found that senior school officials and a village headman went to pick up the children from a northern province. He will face disciplinary action if found guilty of helping in any illegal activities. 

Sakchai also commented on strong criticism by human rights activists of the planned repatriation of the Myanmar children in this case. 

He said Myanmar children who are eligible for educational programmes in Thailand are either children of documented foreign migrants working here or those who were born in Thailand. 

The 126 children retrieved from the school do not meet these criteria. 

Read : Undocumented Myanmar children to be allowed to attend class in Chiang Rai