Rebel student “Yok” insists that her defiance of school regulations is because they are “unusual” and she wants change in Thai society now, adding “if not now, then when?” 

The 15-year-old high-school student has been delisted from Triam Udom Suksa Phatthanakarn School after she failed to bring her mother to the school, as required, when she reported to return to class after her release from a remand home in Nakhon Pathom, where she was detained on a lèse majesté charge.

In her Facebook post today (Sunday), Yok said that adults have their own world, but for a minor like her “if they want change, what can they do?” Peaceful calls for change in the past have failed, she added.

She insisted that what she has been doing is not homicide “but an expression of thought through the clothes she wears, which does not impact her academic performance. The school and its staff are the only things preventing her from studying” she said.

Yok dyes her hair in various colours and dons casual clothes when going to school. She has refused to attend group activities and the flag-hoisting ritual, according to the school.

After the school announced that she is no longer a student, after she failed to meet the requirement to be accompanied by her parents when she reported to resume class, Yok tried to break into the school, three days in a row, by climbing over the fence.

Yesterday, the school issued a second statement reconfirming that Yok is no longer a student and alleging that her recent conduct (attempting to break into the school) poses a threat to the school and other students.

The school has claimed that the regulations have been approved by the parents’ association and the alumni association in recent public hearings. 

In her Facebook post, Yok claims that she missed classes because she was prevented from entering the school. She said that she didn’t choose only to learn subjects that she likes, but she refused to take ethics lessons, because she finds it useless as it has not made people better citizens.

She also said that she rejects group activities, because they are like the activities that she was forced to do with she was at the remand home, adding that she also finds the ritual to pay respect to teachers useless.

“My conduct does not mean I am rebelling foolishly, because what is happening in schools is unusual,” she said. She says she believes that many students want to dress casually at school, but they are forbidden to do so by their parents or society.

She insists that everyone should have the right to choose whatever they want to cover their bodies. “How can we expect our youth to grow up to become good judges or officials if they dare not defy the wrongful orders of their superiors?” she asked rhetorically.