Three undergraduate women reportedly exited the dorms due to homesickness.
In a relief to the concerned parents and authorities, the three schoolgirls who went missing from Rajaprajanugroh 30 School were found safe and unharmed on Monday afternoon. The girls, aged 9 and 7, had left their boarding school dormitory and were found playing in a nearby village, about eight kilometres from the school.
The girls' disappearance triggered an extensive search involving police, soldiers, and local rescue teams. They were initially reported missing on Sunday morning, after they were last seen walking past Wat Mae Ai Luang and Mae Ai Fresh Market around 1 am. Friends of the girls overheard them discussing plans to sneak out the night before they disappeared.
However, it was confirmed that the girls had not been abducted. The motive for their disappearance seems to be homesickness, as they were found by local residents who saw them playing and walking around. The head of the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) has emphasized the need for heightened safety at boarding schools and a fact-finding committee will be set up to investigate the case.
Homesickness is a common issue faced by students in boarding schools, and strategies to address it include building supportive community connections, establishing comforting daily routines, managing balanced contact with family, and promoting healthy habits such as consistent sleep and nutrition. Encouraging students to engage actively in residence life and campus activities helps create a sense of belonging and distractions from loneliness. Structured communication with family, limited to avoid overdependence, aids emotional adjustment. Additionally, promoting mental health practices like stress-relief breaks, regular sleep schedules, and balanced screen time supports emotional resilience in new environments.
School dormitories should feel as safe and secure as a student's own home, according to Acting Sub-Lieut Thanu Wongchinda. The girls were taken to a nearby hospital for check-ups as a precautionary measure, but they were found to be unharmed. The authorities later confirmed that the girls found were the three missing schoolgirls.
It is hoped that this incident will serve as a reminder for the importance of addressing homesickness in boarding schools and implementing measures to ensure the safety and well-being of students. These measures include involvement in residence community, creating daily routines, balancing communication with home, maintaining physical health, utilizing mental health resources, encouraging mindfulness and stress relief, and staff training and monitoring. Together, these strategies combine social engagement, emotional support, self-care, and professional resources to help students adjust and reduce homesickness in boarding school settings.
The incident highlights the need for education-and-self-development strategies to address homesickness in boarding schools, such as building supportive community connections, managing balanced contact with family, and promoting mental health practices. Moreover, it underscores the importance of general-news coverage that focuses on crime-and-justice investigations, as the facts surrounding the girls' disappearance have been clarified, showing they were not abducted but suffered from homesickness.
