The regulation requires that educational service-area offices and the Education Ministry's inspectors general strictly monitor admission practices at state schools. Anyone failing to abide by the regulation will face punishment, including disciplinary action and even dismissal.

"I hope everyone will abide by the regulations," Wijit said yesterday.

He said the new regulation would provide equal opportunities to children in applying for their favourite educational institutes.

"The university-admission system has long offered equal admission opportunities. We should be able to do the same for schools," he said.

Wijit said school administrators would also benefit from the new regulation because they will have a reasonable excuse not to help well-connected people to get their children into their preferred schools.

Wijit said executives of some top schools should ignore phone calls during the admission period in a bid to avoid being asked to do special favours.

"Under the new regulations, anyone trying to exert influence on schools to help certain children will face punishment too," Wijit said, adding he would never exert influence to secure seats for children.

"I make that pledge with my ministerial post," Wijit said.

The education minister said he would not bar state schools from holding fund-raising activities as long as they did not have an effect on admissions.

But schools that operate under special conditions - such as demonstration schools - would be exempted from the new regulation, he said.

Demonstration schools have had a long-standing rule to allocate places as welfare benefits for their staff.