Imitating arson in protests, student sets fire to his school

Copycat student torches school

BANGKOK — A high school student stressed out over pressure to excel burned down part of his prestigious boarding school in what may have been behavior copying the widespread arson of recent protests in Bangkok, authorities said Monday.

“He has been watching too much news,” police Col. Chetta Sangsrikaew, investigating the fire set over the weekend by a 16-year-old student, told The Associated Press.

Chetta said that television images of rioters setting ablaze buildings in the Thai capital — coupled with stress — could have prompted him to set fire to the Mahidol Wittayanusorn school in Nakhon Pathom province Sunday.

Police have not filed charges, and the student is now under the care of child psychologists, said provincial Gov. Panada Disakul, who interviewed the student after the police caught him. “I’m worried about how he could integrate back to school.”

The boy was from northeastern Thailand and was having difficulty adjusting to the more demanding and competitive study environment. He told Panada that he wanted to go home, but that his mother would not let him.

Authorities said the student sneaked into the school late Saturday. He hid in a nearby building until just past midnight and drenched the ground floor of the school’s seven-floor library with gasoline and set it ablaze, causing some $4 million in damage. The fire, fueled by the books, quickly spread to the upper floors.

Following a military crackdown on anti-government demonstrations on May 19, angry protesters set fire to some 30 buildings in downtown Bangkok.

“I just copied what other adults do,” the Matichon newspaper quoted the teenager as saying. “I want to go home … The teachers pressure me constantly.”

According to Thai PBS Television, the student’s grades had slipped as his parents put pressure on him to get into a top medical school.

Mahidol Wittayanusorn is one of a few specialized science high schools in Thailand, where students can start their medical degree right out of high school. The boarding school is closely associated with Mahidol University, home to one of the best medical schools in the country. Many parents who send their children to the boarding school expect them to enter medical school.