Child ID card applicants face strict screening
RANONG : Provincial authorities are taking steps to ensure the new ID cards for children are not issued to the offspring of foreign migrant workers.
A registration official of Yala municipality tests equipment for the production of ID cards for children aged seven and above. The issuance of ID cards for the young will begin on Sunday and officials of Yala municipality will produce ID cards for about 1,300 local children at their schools. MUHAMMAD AYUB PATHANRanong governor Wanchart Wongchaichana said yesterday children will be thoroughly screened to prevent the system being abused. The Identity Card Act of 2011 requires Thais to have ID cards from the age of seven to 70. Previously, the minimum age of ID card holders was 15. The issuance of the new cards will start this Sunday.
Mr Wanchart is concerned some migrant workers might try to get hold of the cards illegally so they can receive state welfare. In the past, high-ranking officials had been implicated in a scam to have Thai ID cards issued to Rohingya and Burmese immigrants.
Meanwhile, Manas Porpan, a registration official in Yala municipality, said authorities there will issue ID cards directly to schoolchildren.
About 1,300 youngsters will receive the cards at their schools on the condition they present their birth or student certificates. The on-site card issuance will start at the Nibong Chanupatham School on July 19.
