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Thailand's military rulers are pushing a new behavioural code on children emphasising love for the monarchy and deference to authority, in a move critics say typifies the junta's authoritarianism and the country's stultifying education system.
Every morning, pupils at Satriwithaya girls' school in Bangkok's historic heart shuffle into the assembly hall to sing the country's royal anthem.
"I prostrate with my head and heart to your majesty," they chant from their orderly rows.
It is a scene that has long been repeated across a country where the 87-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej enjoys widespread devotion - a love burnished by a personality cult that hands him semi-divine status.
But now an additional round of compulsory patriotic propaganda has been added to the school's curriculum in a campaign by the junta to tighten the narrative supporting its coup, as well as shape public morality.
Watch: Leave them kids alone: Thais balk at junta's '12 Commandments'

Since the new school term started in November, every pupil aged eight to 18 has been asked to master the "Twelve Values" Thailand's generals want the country's youth to embody.
They are fresh dictums of love for King Bhumibol - the world's longest serving monarch - and obedience towards the royalist establishment, which includes the military and swathes of the Bangkok-based elite.
"Adore the nation, religion, and His Majesty the King," reads the first commandment, a mantra reflecting the established three pillars of Thai society.
The seventh urges pupils to "understand properly democracy headed by His Majesty the King" - a phrase with resonance following the May coup, which toppled an elected government - while the final commandment urges work for "the nation's benefit rather than one's own".
But not all students have bought in to the junta's vision of remoulding Thai society from its classrooms. Some view the tweaked curriculum as a form of brainwashing.
"It does not suit the 21st century education to force every student to believe the same values," says one female student from the campaign group Education for Liberation of Siam, who are raising the issue across social media.
"You can't live in a society that has the same robots that are programmed with the same software," the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
The junta's propaganda project mastermind is Prayuth Chan-ocha, the former army chief turned premier who says he was forced to seize power after months of anti-government protests left nearly 30 dead and hundreds more wounded.
Prayuth has muzzled dissent, imposed martial law and overseen a surge in charges and convictions for royal defamation - a crime which carries up to 15 years in jail. Anti-coup protesters have been arrested.
Critics accuse the military of using its claims to be the monarchy's ultimate defender as an excuse to entrench power at a time when it feels threatened by the rise of democracy. Analysts have joined rights groups in accusing Prayuth of a clumsy thought-control campaign.
"The default viewpoint is 'You should not question authority' and that is strongly reflected in the educational system," said Dr Atipong Pathanasethpong from Khon Kaen University in northeastern Thailand.
The junta, he adds, is "only compounding the problems".


Thailand’s military rulers look to shape a new generation with behavioural code for schools

Thai students offer Buddhist prayers at a school in Bangkok. The country's rulers are encouraging deference to authority. Photo: AFP

Thai students offer Buddhist prayers at a school in Bangkok. The country's rulers are encouraging deference to authority.Photo: AFP

Thai junta under fire for children’s film featuring Hitler, Nazi symbol

The 'Twelve Values' video has since been taken down from the internet. Photo: YouTube

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Thailand's military rulers are pushing patriotic propaganda on schools
