Teenage pregnancy is a major problem in Thailand. From the research of the Institute for Population and Social Research of Mahidol University, over 2,700 female students have to resign from the school and lose their education opportunity because of pregnancy. Furthermore, this problem is strongly unacceptable in Thai society, and teen moms are judged negatively as dishonorable women. Although people in Thai society do not admire the expecting students, they should not be blocked from educational access.
Many people might think that if pregnant students are allowed to attend school, they will become a burden to themselves and others because of the limitations on things they could do. Exercising in physical education class would definitely affects their pregnancy and raises higher risk of accident. Particularly, permitting them to come to school directly supports the pregnancy in adolescents which could lead other students to think that it is fine to be pregnant.
In the United States there is a particular law supporting the education of teenage pregnancy; TITLE IX: Legal Protection and Services for Pregnant and Parenting Students in Public Schools. The law prohibits educational institutions from discriminating against students on the basis of sex, including a student’s status relating to her potential or actual pregnancy. The law also states in details that pregnant students can participate in all school programs and extracurricular activities. They should also be provided reasonable accommodations such as a larger desk and elevator use. Importantly, the students should be protected from harassment based on their pregnancy or status as a parenting student.
On the other hand, in Thailand, the law covering this issue is not as specific as the U.S. The legislation Act for Prevention and Solution of the Adolescent Pregnancy Problem in the Section 6.3 only states that the educational institutions shall establish a system of supervision, assistance and protection for pregnant pupils or students to receive education in a suitable and continuous manner.
The statement “a suitable and continuous manner” is unclear. There is no particular definition for this statement which causes a loophole in this Act. As each school has different standards, the proper solution is defined and applied differently. At Suan Sunandha Demonstration High School, Tachara Wangmethe, a guidance counselor, said “The policy for pregnant students is helping students to decide whether they will drop out or quit from school. The school cannot permit the students to carry their pregnancy to classes as it creates the bad image to the school.” His opinion underscores the loophole. The law does not enforce the school to provide a suitable and continuous education to the pregnant students as the school concerns the images more than their students. Therefore, if the law generates more clearly, the pregnant students would be able to access the educations as in the U.S.
Apart from the law’s loophole, teen moms are discriminated from the society which exacerbates their studies. The discrimination can be seen through the case of a 19-year-old mom, Kodchakorn Utesnan, posting a photo of her child on Facebook. She was heavily condemned as a spoiled teenager who has no responsibility and got pregnant. It is quite obvious that most people negatively labeled teen moms as bad people and discriminated them in the society. Similarly, pregnant students who faced negative judgments from their peers would also feel discouraged to come to school. Pichayapa Kaewwaiyut, an eleventh student from Suan Sunandha Demonstration High School, said “I don’t think teen moms are good people. They look like spoiled girls.”
The ineffective law and the discrimination in Thai society are detrimental to educational opportunity of pregnant students. The law should be modified by providing more specific rules on things that pregnant students could receive in school in order to create a better situation for them. For the perception of people towards pregnancy in adolescent, it is difficult to change what they have been taught traditionally. At this point, the thing that people should focus is not the unplanned pregnancy but the importance of their education. Pregnancy in adolescence is definitely not what people would support, yet every student deserves the education no matter what status they are.
