Students at a northern university have been coerced into donating blood, or see their student loan payments delayed.
On 31 January 2016, the Facebook page ‘ANTI SOTUS’ reported that Maejo University’s Student Loan Fund had asked student representatives to encourage students to donate blood at a university blood drive. Students failing to participate would risk a delay in their student loan payments from the university.
Kosin Luangla, a staff member at the Student Loan Fund, explained in an interview with Prachatai that the policy came about three days into a blood drive when the university realised that fewer students were donating blood than in previous years and some 6,000 students rely on loans from the Student Loan Fund.
The university subsequently convened a meeting with student representatives to spread the news that if blood donation quotas set by the university were not met, timely loan payments would not be guaranteed for students who had not donated blood.
But the threat to suspend student loan payments was merely a ruse to increase blood donations, Kosin assured Prachatai. If blood donation quotas had not been met, student loan payments would apparently have been made as usual.
According to the ANTI SOTUS page, the Facebook page of Maejo University’s Student Loan Fund has since deleted its announcement that students must donate blood.
Students relying on loans from Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna (RMTL) Lampang Campus donate blood as part of a university social service activity (Photo from RMTL website)
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