The cabinet made an unwelcome decision on Tuesday that shows its disrespect for freedom, rights and privacy of young people. It approved a draft ministerial regulation curbing the conduct of students as well as where they can go. Containing blanket and broad restrictions, this regulation is prone to be used a tool to control rather than protect students. Ultimately, it will do more harm than good.
Pushed by bureaucrats at the Education Ministry, the draft regulation, which is waiting to be vetted by the Council of State, is a more restrictive version of a 2005 ministerial regulation that states nine things students are forbidden from doing, such as skipping class, drinking alcohol, smoking, using illicit drugs, and gambling.
The new regulation enhances three of these restrictions, namely, those on instigating violence, expressing intimacy and engaging in sexual behaviour, and leaving one's home at night. The existing three rules are already seen as broad and invasive in terms of young people's rights and privacy. But the new regulation promises to be even worse.
