Led by Thalang District Chief Siwat Rawangkun, officials including Deputy District Chief for Security Chaiporn Yangchin, local leaders, village headmen along with a variety of other officials “visited” the BanYa in Moo 6 Srisoonthorn yesterday (Mar 18).
Their visit aimed to investigate the opening of a school for foreign students from Myanmar, said a brief report posted online by Thalang District Office.
The report gave no explanations of why the centre was raided, or what irregularities ‒ if any ‒ were found.
The Good Shepherd school in Ratsada and the BanYa Literacy Center in Srisoonthorn have both operated for decades with open, and tacit, support from leading Phuket officials.
The raid followed a high-profile raid of the school run by the ‘Good Shepherd Phuket Town’ Foundation on Monday.
The free charity-run school provides free education and free lunches to children in the Soi Kingkaew slum area on the east side of Phuket Town ‒ one of the densest impoverished communities on the island.
In a pre-emptive move to counter any potential backlash, officials led a major press conference late Monday afternoon to “explain” the raids.
The ‘Good Shepherd Phuket Town’ school has been ordered to halt formal teaching, but is allowed to continue to provide activities for children and youths, Phuket Vice Governor Adul Chuthong said at the press conference.
So far officials have not given any explanation as to why the Good Shepherd charity operations in Phuket have come under intense scrutiny in the past few days, though anti-Myanmar migrant worker sentiment has been rising on Thai social media channels, some people claiming that Myanmar migrant workers are stealing jobs from Thais.
Attempting to direct attention away from potentially racist criticism, Vice Governor Adul on Monday warned that if the school was found to be operating illegally, the punishment under the law was a fine of up to B20,000 or up to one year in jail, or both.