2 weeks ago
Thai Schools Conduct Shooting Drills After Deadly School Attack
Thai schools are practicing what to do if an armed attacker enters.
The exercises happened after a deadly school shooting.
Students learned to run away when possible and hide behind locked doors or under tables.
They also practiced using furniture to block entrances.
In one practice scenario, students tackled the pretend attacker.
A police officer acted as the attacker and used guns loaded with blanks.
Schools were told to prepare safety plans and practice emergencies.
One Bangkok school is also checking bags and using metal detectors more often.
School leaders said the training could help students stay safer during a real emergency.
Thai schools held active-shooter response drills on August 19, two weeks after a 14-year-old killed at least eight people at a school.
Students practiced running, hiding, barricading doors, and fighting back against a mock attacker.
At Bangkok’s Surasamontree School, a police officer used blank-firing handguns and an assault rifle during the exercise.
Education Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong ordered schools on August 10 to create security plans and rehearse emergency procedures.
Surasamontree School has increased daily metal-detector checks and bag searches, including inspections for sharp objects.
- Who
- Thai school students, teachers, police officers, and education authorities.
- What
- Schools conducted active-shooter response drills and strengthened security checks after a deadly school attack.
- Where
- At schools across Thailand, including Surasamontree School in Bangkok.
- When
- The drills took place on August 19, following a directive issued on August 10 and an attack two weeks earlier.
- Why
- Authorities wanted schools to prepare students and staff for armed attacks and other threats.
Key facts
- Reported deaths in preceding attack
- At least eight people
- Age of alleged shooter
- 14 years old
- Drill date
- August 19
- Security directive
- Signed August 10 by Education Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong
- Response methods practiced
- Run, hide, barricade, and fight
- Mock weapons
- A handgun and an assault rifle firing blanks
- Additional school security
- Metal detectors, bag searches, and confiscation of sharp objects
Quotes
Visitsak Vipattanamongkol
Superintendent of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit, Patrol and Special Operations Division, Police
“"Every school is responding because this is a new-age threat that can happen anywhere," said Visitsak Vipattanamongkol, superintendent of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit at the Patrol and Special Operations Division of the police.”
theprint.in
Onitcha Kochana
Director of Surasamontree School, Bangkok
“"I’m impressed and really like this training, because it gives students knowledge and awareness," Onitcha Kochana, director of Surasamontree School, said.”
theprint.in
Sources
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