Young Chinese women visiting the country have taken to dressing up in Thai school uniforms, and the Ministry of Education is less than thrilled by their fashion statements.
Being a non-student and wearing a school uniform is okay, it turns out, as long as it does not have the initials of a real school on it. But if someone wearing a real uniform with a real school name on it ends up doing something that could stain the reputation of that real school, they’re in for real trouble.
Tourists — and probably most Thai people — might not be aware of it, but there is a Student Uniform Act in Thailand. Break it and you can be fined.
If tourists wear uniforms with school initials and misbehave, the management of the schools concerned have the right to file a legal complaint, Amporn Pinasa, secretary-general of the Office of the Basic Education Commission, told Thai PBS on Wednesday.
He said he would discuss the matter with other organisations including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Tourism and Sports Ministry to prevent any adverse impact from the fashion fad.
Lawyer Ratchapol Sirisakorn said on his Facebook page that people who were not students but wore uniforms with school initials were considered as violating the Student Uniform Act for being imposters, and could be fined up to 1,000 baht.
If tourists’ student uniforms show only their own names, that would not be an offence, he said.
The uniform craze among Chinese people took off when the Thai teen romantic comedy First Love, also known as A Little Thing Called Love, became popular in China.
The fad faded during the Covid-19 pandemic. It re-emerged when famous Chinese actress and singer Ju Jingyi wore a Thai student uniform during her stay in the country last month and shared her pictures online.
