A question in a social science exam paper, which asks students to discuss some of the most contentious issues in Thailand, is making headlines and is being widely shared by social media users.

The topics requiring discussion include:

Thai society and the monarchy
Political asylum
Lawfare
Israel vs Palestine
Authoritarianism in schools
Royal convoys
Commercialisation of Buddhism
Climate crisis

According to instructions on the paper, students are to pick 3 key phrases from a list of 50. They then have 3 minutes to explain the chosen terms and another 2 minutes to respond their teacher’s questions.

This week, Songchai Nianhom, president of People for the Protection of the Monarchy Institution (Por-Por-Sor) and his team showed up at the Wat That Thong High-School to raise their concerns that open discussion of some of these issues may affect national security.

He questioned what is being taught to students and how their answers will be handled by teachers.

Kaokorn Suksangamkul, the teacher who wrote the exam paper, said “a fun classroom is a space for academic debate, teachers have a role in encouraging students to think, speak out, debate and use their logic, so that social science subjects can be more interesting”.

Yesterday, the Office of the Basic Education Commission, the school’s governing body, withdrew the exam paper and ordered an investigation into its issue.

Another source says, however, that the Primary Educational Service Area (PESA) is asking the school to amend the exam paper to remove some key phrases.

Paramee Waijongcharoen, a Move Forward MP and member of the parliamentary committee on education told Thai PBS’s ‘The Activ’, “We have problems with academic freedom in Thai classrooms.

Children are being asked to memorise texts for exams, but are not being tested on their abilities to analyse and compare social situations.” Paramee also emphasised that “schools need to be open to various opinions.”