PM urged to axe 'corrupting' school quotas

PM urged to axe 'corrupting' school quotas

NACN chief calls for more test-result places

The tea-money scandal burst back into public view after a parent claimed he gave a payment of 400,000 baht to assure enrolment of his child to Viroj Samluan, director of Samsenwittayalai School, seen here receiving roses of support from students. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)
The tea-money scandal burst back into public view after a parent claimed he gave a payment of 400,000 baht to assure enrolment of his child to Viroj Samluan, director of Samsenwittayalai School, seen here receiving roses of support from students. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)

Anti-corruption advocates have petitioned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to scrap special quotas which allow schools to earmark discretionary places for certain students, to ward off possible graft.

The petition was lodged by Mongkolkit Suksintharanon, secretary-general of the National Anti-Corruption Network (NACN).

Mr Mongkolkit said his network had received complaints from students' parents and civil servants that the quota system had encouraged corruption.

Schools could easily be tempted to enrol students whose parents had given large donations, and the process of courting students by schools had become discriminatory, he said.

It was also possible that some state officials had used their positions to pressure school directors into enrolling their children.

He said the country needed to fight corruption from the ground up, and that included cleaning up the school selection process. The system should be based solely on students' academic abilities, Mr Mongkolkit said.

Such quotas should be drastically cut for the next academic year so that more seats can be provided to students via exam results, he said.

Mr Mongkolkit said he wants 357 highly competitive schools to reveal the names of both benefactors and people involved in the compilation of the quota lists for this academic year.

Anyone who donated between 5,000 baht and 2 million baht to one of the more highly sought-after schools from Jan 5 until today should have their names revealed and be subject to investigation, he said.

He added that if state officials are found to have used their positions unduly, criminal and civil charges will be brought against them as well as coordinators and school directors.

The call was made in the wake of the "tea money" scandal at Samsenwittayalai School. Its director Viroj Samluan was accused of demanding 400,000 baht from a parent in exchange for enrolling a student.

Mr Viroj countered the allegation, saying he was the victim of a plot to oust him by disgruntled alumni whose children were not admitted to the school.

He has been reassigned to work at the Secondary Educational Service Area Office 1 while the investigation is conducted. He has not been removed as school director.

Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said yesterday he had ordered the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) to investigate the allegations at Samsenwittayalai School.

He said any proposals aimed at making school enrolment fairer can be sent to Obec secretary-general Karun Sakulpradit.

Referring to calls for school directors to be forced to reveal their assets, the minister said this is a substantial issue and the National Anti-Corruption Commission should be asked whether such an approach can be carried out.

Mr Karun said if the investigation finds Mr Viroj not guilty, he would return to work at the school.

"I want the public to understand that Obec will not sit idly by. Every process needs time, and information obtained from police will also be taken into consideration," he added.

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