With its spacious, tree-lined grounds and slightly threadbare classrooms, there is nothing obviously unusual about the Kampang Secondary School.

It is situated in Thailand’s impoverished north-east, and most of the pupils are the children of farmers.

Every morning at 0800 they all gather outside to sing the national anthem and watch the flag being raised.

Then they have a chance to use the toilets, before heading off the first classes of the day.

Kampang is proud of its toilets. Spotless, and surrounded by flowering tropical plants, they have won national awards for cleanliness.

But there is something else about them too. Between the girls’ toilet and the boys’, there is one signposted with a half-man, half-woman figure in blue and red.

This is the transsexual toilet, and outside, in front of the mirrors, some decidedly girly-looking teenage boys preen their hair and apply face cream.

’Uncomfortable’

The headteacher, Sitisak Sumontha, estimates that in any year between 10% and 20% of his boys consider themselves to be transgender - boys who would rather be girls.

The toilet for transsexual pupils in Kampang Secondary School, north-east Thailand
The transsexual pupils are delighted with their own facilities

"They used to be teased every time they used the boys’ toilets," he said, "so they started using the girls’ toilets instead. But that made the girls feel uncomfortable. It made these boys unhappy, and started to affect their work."

So the school offered to build the transgender boys their own facility, and they welcomed it.

Triwate Phamanee is a slightly built 13-year-old who is adamant that he will one day change his gender.

"We’re not boys," he told me, "so we don’t want to use the boys’ toilet - we want them to know we are transsexuals."

Vichai Saengsakul, 15, agrees.

"People need to know that being a transsexual is not a joke," he says, "it’s the way we want to live our lives. That’s why we’re grateful for what the school has done.

What I find odd is that there don’t seem to be any trans girls mentioned. Strange.