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These shops are located mostly opposite Ramkhamhaeng University and law enforcement officials could not effectively tackle such explicit exposure in public places, said Amornwit Nakhonthab, director of the Ramjitti Institute who was quoting a Child Watch report. He did not say why laws could not be effectively enforced in these cafes and shops.

There are around 5,000 shops and cafes registered with authorities, but their services for minors after 10 pm or customers in school uniforms were regularly reported. Game addiction and school absenteeism are increasing in Bangkok and major provinces across the country, the Child Watch report said.

He said more youths were being sent to correctional homes each year, from 30,000 a year previously to around 40,000 in the past two years. The report found that 30 per cent of students at lower high school levels in the provinces did not live with their parents. Vice and nightentertainment venues are being found operating near schools without sanction by authorities.

Assoc Prof Somphong Jitradab, a Chulalongkorn University lecturer on child development, said Child Watch also found that students were increasingly bored with schools and turning to computer games and seeking friends of the opposite sex, because school courses were boring and outdated. In many provinces where surveys were conducted, half the primary school students and 80 per cent of secondary students had mobile phones.