Five proposals emerge from Thai online discussion on school violence
RealWatch Lab tracked 12,555 online messages, with 2,954 recommending weapons controls, family upbringing, school psychologists, joint action and education-system design.
- Enforce weapons-control laws and punish offenders, which was the most common suggestion (35%).
- Focus on family upbringing, with parents dedicating time to understanding their children's problems and instilling values (25%).
- Place a psychologist in every school and ensure teachers take bullying and harassment seriously instead of dismissing it (17%).
- Foster integrated cooperation between families, schools, and the wider society to systematically care for children (12%).
- Reform the education system to enable teachers and schools to better listen to students and address the root causes of their problems (11%).
Following recent violence in educational institutions, RealWatch Lab, the Research and Data Analytics team at Real Smart Public Company Limited, a company specialising in AI transformation and solutions as well as AI- and data-driven technology, conducted social listening and social monitoring of Thai internet users across all platforms that allow public comments from August 7 to 13.
The analysis found 12,555 messages mentioning violent incidents in educational institutions.
Of these, 9,601 referred to the incidents in general, while 2,954 offered advice and suggestions on how the problems should be addressed.
Five main proposals emerged for addressing violence in educational institutions.
- First, 35% of the messages containing recommendations called for enforcement of weapons-control laws and punishment of offenders. Most argued that existing laws must be applied, weapon possession should be controlled, and those who break the law must be punished.
- Second, 25% focused on family upbringing and the need for families to devote time and attention to understanding children’s problems. The messages said families must protect and understand children and be the starting point for instilling values, while efforts to address children’s problems must begin with the family.
- Third, 17% called for every school to have a psychologist on staff and for teachers to take bullying and harassment seriously. The messages called for penalties when bullying occurs, urged teachers to intervene rather than dismiss it as teasing, and recommended that schools have psychologists to care for children.
- Fourth, 12% called for families, schools and society to work together in an integrated manner. The messages said families, schools and teachers must work together to care for children systematically and that responsibility could not be left to teachers alone. They added that families must help care for children, wider society must also participate in caring for them, and problems must be addressed systematically.
- Fifth, 11% proposed designing an education system in which teachers and schools listen to students’ problems so they can recognise and understand them. The messages called for examining the root causes and addressing the problems at a systemic level. They said schools and teachers must pay attention to students’ problems, that the number of teachers was not proportionate to the number of students and that high student numbers left teachers without enough time to care for everyone adequately. They also called for reforms to student-care systems in schools so teachers could spend more time supporting students closely.
The comments reflected the view that addressing school violence required not only strict law enforcement and punishment of offenders.
The long-term solution was to design an integrated education system through cooperation among families, schools and society.
Alongside academic content, child psychology should receive greater attention to help reduce violence in schools.
