Pongthep Thepkanchan, Thailand’s Education Minister, has issued a statement banning all off-campus parties for freshmen from all institutes that are under the Vocational Education Commission (VEC).
According to Thepkanchan, parties to welcome freshmen students should be organized by the institution and supervised by their respective teachers and administrators. The activities should also be constructive and aim to promote ethics and morality among new students.
Freshmen parties have been a long tradition, he added, and banning them would only cause them to be organized in secret elsewhere.
The Education Ministry has enacted the ban in an effort to address Thailand’s notorious hazing rituals that have resulted in injuries and sometimes death, the Bangkok Post reported.
