Police rescue students held hostage in hotel room by call centre scammers

11 Sept 07:01 Key points summarised by AI

Police rescued two university students from a Pathum Thani hotel room where a call centre gang had manipulated them into isolation and monitored them via video calls.
The scammers orchestrated a sophisticated fraud, initially accusing students of illegal activities before offering a fake overseas scholarship with forged documents to extort nearly 900,000 baht from them and their parents.
The incident underscores a rising trend of call centre scams targeting students, with Rangsit University reporting multiple similar cases and two additional students rescued the same day under comparable circumstances.
Police swiftly located and rescued the students within 24 hours of a report, and are actively investigating to prosecute those involved in these widespread fraudulent schemes.

Examining Thailand’s four-part education revolution

Today 14:22 Key points summarised by AI

Thailand's Education Ministry is implementing a four-pronged strategy to address its students' below-average performance in PISA 2025 and tackle significant educational inequality.
The plan prioritizes closing performance gaps by increasing funding for small and low-income schools, overhauling the curriculum to foster critical thinking, and adopting a data-driven management system to reduce teacher workload.
Key initiatives include enhancing school safety, combating cyberbullying, and expanding mental health support through peer-to-peer networks, recognizing the severe impact of distress on academic performance.
An education expert advises verifying if PISA improvements stem from structural changes, advocating for a revived STEM curriculum with practical 'learn by doing' methods, and urging bureaucratic reform to link teacher evaluations to student development.