Bribes for seats in prestigious Bangkok schools | Bangkok Post: learning

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Bribes for admission to prestigious schools doubled, hidden by untransparent "substituted seat" system. Only 40% of schools following no bribe policy.

This "developing story" has been developing for a long time (Read articles: Samak slams schools that bill parents extra (26-05-2008) DSI crackdown on school bribes (28-11-2008), Parents want end to extra school fees (19-11-2009)) and Dek Fak: Admission to prestigious schools given by politicians to canvassers as return for favours (15-05-2008).

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EDUCATION: Top school accused of 'bribes for seats' scam by Lamphai Intathep

A prestigious Bangkok school has been accused of asking for tea money in exchange for seats for students.

An investigation involving the Education Ministry has found some schools had doubled their requests for money from parents, despite being warned to put a halt to the practice. Among them is the highly regarded Triam Udom Suksa Nomklao School in Saphan Sung.

With help from the National Anti-Corruption Network, a civic group monitoring state corruption, the complaint was sent to Education Minister Chinnaworn Boonyakiat yesterday.

The network's secretary, Mongkolkit Suksintharanon, said the parent of a Mathayom 3 student, whose name was withheld, in the Triam Udom Suksa Nomklao School filed a complaint to the network that their child was in the 12th substituted seat for continuing studies in the upper class of Mathayom 4.

The school refused him and instead accepted another student who was in the 22nd substituted seat.

After looking into the case, the network found the process of recruiting students in substituted seats was "unclear". The network then found some parents had paid 30,000 baht to the school to secure a seat, Mr Mongkolkit said.

"The Education Ministry said it is closely monitoring 366 highly competitive schools and has placed requirements on schools to stop asking for tea money but only 40% followed this policy while the rest are apparently trying to double the tea money request," he said.

He said the tea money was received in various ways, including payments via substituted seats, donations and religious activity financial support.

The network would also hand the case to the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

The Mathayom 3 student's father said his son had no chance to continue studying in Mathayom4 level at this stage.

Sarayut Foosupniran, director of Triam Udom Suksa Nomklao School, insisted there was no bribery at the school and that it had already clarified the allegation with the Secondary Educational Service Area Office 2 and the student's parent.

He said it was normal for the school to have a quota for prominent students who "enhanced the reputation of the school". He said the 22nd substituted student could have been in that group.

He said Mathayom 4 class admissions were ascertained from examination results, an appraisal of those at Mathayom3 level who wanted to continue at the same school, and pupils who might enhance the reputation of the school.

"There has been no bribery in the school," he said.

Why would I risk being fired or investigated in exchange for a little amount of money.

He said he planned to file a lawsuit against the accuser.

(Source: Bangkok Post, EDUCATION, Top school accused of 'bribes for seats' scam, 8/06/2011, Lamphai Intathep, link) 

bribe - money secretly given to a person to do some favour (examples: bribe to a police officer to not pay a fine, bribe to a government official to get around rules, bribe to school to get into school) สินบน
bribes for seats - meaning: paying 
tea money - same as "bribes"

scam - a dishonest plan, especially for getting money กลโกง, แผนร้าย
prestigious - admired and respected by many people ที่มีชื่อเสียง ที่ได้รับความนับถือ

investigation - the process of trying to find out all the details or facts about something in order to discover who or what caused it or how it happened การตรวจสอบหาข้อเท็จจริง
investigate (verb) - doing an investigation, trting to find out the truth about some event or incdent

looking into - same as "investigating" (but perhaps not as thorough, example: I will look into the matter if I have time.)
looking into the case - investigating the case

halt - to stop หยุด หยุดนิ่ง
practice - a way of doing something that people do regularly การปฏิบัติ

monitor - regularly check and watch an ongoing activity or process (to check for problems or collect information) จับตาดู
closely monitoring - checking the details, checking very carefully and thoroughly 

state - government รัฐ
corruption - (See Wikipedia on bribery, corporate corruption, and political corruption)
complaint - when someone says that something is wrong or not satisfactory การร้องเรียน

name was withheld - the name was not given
fileda complaint - to take official action, e.g., to make a formal complaint ยื่นฟ้องร้อง
network - a large system of connected parts, organisations, people, etc. เครือข่าย

process - a series of actions that you take in order to achieve a result แนวทางปฏิบัติ, กระบวน, วิธีการ
recruit - จ้างคนใหม่, รับคนใหม่, สมาชิกใหม่ etc ...
secure - get something that is difficult to get ได้มาซึ่ง
secure a seat - gain admission and entry into a school as a student (when only a limited number of students are admitted)

competitive - involving competition, people working hard to get the same scarce things or resources  มีการแข่งขัน
policy - a plan of action to guide decisions and achieve outcomes (See Wikipedia) นโยบาย
apparently - based only on what you have heard or think, not on what you are certain is true; seemingly ตามที่ได้รู้มา
double - to become twice as big, twice as much or twice as many เพิ่มเป็นสองเท่า

donations - money given by people to help some project or organisation financially
support - help, by giving money, for example สนับสนุน
financial support - help by giving money
chance - opportunity
had no chance to - had no opportunity to
stage - a particular point in time during a process or set of events ระยะเวลา ช่วงเวลา

insisted - say firmly that something must happen or is true, and will not change mind
bribery - the crime of giving money or presents to someone so that they will help you by doing something dishonest or illegal การให้สินบน
clarified - made clear
allegation - acccusation; a statement that someone has done something wrong or illegal even though this has not been proved ข้อกล่าวหา
quota - the limited quantity that is officially allowed (for example, an import quota for clothing from an exporting country )
prominent - important, very noticeable and well known สำคัญ, มีชื่อเสียง, เด่น
enhance - to improve the quality, amount or strength of something ทำให้ดีเพิ่มขึ้น ปรับปรุง, ทำให้ดีขึ้น
reputation - the opinion that people have about how good or bad someone or something is ความนับหน้าถือตา ที่มีชื่อเสียง ที่เป็นที่รู้จัก
enhanced the reputation - make the reputation better

admissions - people accepted as students in a school
ascertain - determine, find out what the truth is (in a certain situation) 
results - what is produced in the end by an activity or task
examination results - student test scores

appraisal - considering something carefully (investigating it) in order to form an opinion and judgement about it
appraise (verb)

pupils - students
risk - the possibility that something dangerous or unpleasant might happen ความเสี่ยง
fired - have job taken away (because did something wrong) Mr Wiroon said they could not accept being dismissed because it was
file - to take official action, in this case, to make an official complaint ยื่นคำร้อง
lawsuit - a case that a court of law is asked to decide involving a disagreement between two people or organisations คดีที่อยู่ในระหว่างการฟ้องร้อง

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