A 15-year-old activist on Monday morning walked into the school which has rejected her enrolment as "incomplete" and demanded her right to an education.
Thanalop "Yok" Phalancha, a grade 10 student (Mathayom 4) walked into Triam Udom Suksa Pattanakarn School in Bangkok without any opposition on Monday morning, as policewomen were deployed outside to ensure order.
She sported her trade mark dyed hair and casual clothing, in defiance of school regulations.
She insisted on her right to an education, and rejected the school management's weekend statement that her enrolment process was incomplete. She said the process was completed on May 16, she had already paid her school fees and had studied there for a month.
She stood firm on her right to dye her hair and wear clothes of her own choice instead of a school uniform, and to refrain from participating in school ceremonies.
Yok said her choice of hairstyle and clothing were a fundamental right, and the ceremonies were a reflection of authoritarianism.
However, she said, she would agree to wear a uniform if every student at her school also agreed.
The teenager complained that the election-winning Move Forward Party was slow to take up her cause. The party objected to school regulations on student uniforms and hairstyles, but had issued a statement of support only after she had climbed fences to enter her school for three days, she said.
On Sunday the party put out a statement saying all children had the right to an education regardless of the status of their guardians, and that this principle should also apply to Yok's case.
Triam Udom Suksa Pattanakarn School, in Suan Luang district, has declared Yok is no longer a student there, saying she failed to complete the enrolment process.
The 15-year-old was recently released on bail from a juvenile detention centre in Nakhon Pathom, after she was earlier charged with royal defamation.
Last week, Yok showed up in school in casual clothes and with dyed hair, in a protest against uniform and hairstyle rules. The school barred her from class. She then climbed over the school fence on three days, determined to attend class.
On Saturday the school issued a statement signed by the principal, Jintana Srisarakham, saying she was no longer a student at the school.
The statement said Yok had failed to complete the enrolment process, because her parents did not show up on enrolment day. It also said Yok's misconduct at school was a threat to the safety of fellow students, staff, parents and school property.
On her Facebook page on Sunday, Yok said she wanted to go to school but remained barred from entry.
The standoff at the school was continuing, with Yok remaining within the grounds..
