Uni urges no booze for students zone

Alcohol outlets around the King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) campus are being asked not to sell liquor to students because drinking is a major cause of student dropouts, the university said yesterday.

Suchatvee Suwansawat, acting rector of KMITL, said the dropout rate at the university is 3% or around 200 students a year, which is higher than average. He said a key contributing factor is the “drinking culture” among students.

“Some might say KMITL’s dropout rate is high because the study is difficult, but I think that’s just one part,” Mr Suchatvee said. “Another part is alcohol consumption which can cause inappropriate student behaviour such as missing class, brawls between students, and health problems.”

The acting rector was speaking at the launch of the university’s alcohol-free zone policy yesterday which asks for cooperation from shops and restaurants around campus not to sell alcohol to students.

Mr Suchatvee said KMITL is tackling the problem on both the supply and demand sides. On the supply side, the university is asking police to launch patrols every two hours to prevent alcohol sales around the campus.

At the same time it will put pressure on restaurants and coffee shops that sell alcohol illegally to students.

On the demand side, KMITL is using the concept of “24 hours learning latitude”, where the university provides activities and facilities such as the library, laboratory, computer centre and indoor stadium to students, to keep them away from vice.

“We’re dealing with every aspect of the problem and we plan to put this problem to the Council of University Presidents of Thailand to persuade other universities to follow our model,” Mr Suchatvee said.

The government’s Alcohol Control Committee last month approved a proposal by the Prime Minister’s Office to ban alcohol sales within a 300-metre radius of educational institutions.

Alcohol sales near universities in Bangkok remain prevalent, with almost 2,870 retailers operating within a 500-metre radius of 15 universities, the Centre for Alcohol Studies has found.