The Education Ministry will provide debt refinancing packages for over 10,000 debt-stricken teachers, to prevent them being blacklisted by the National Credit Bureau.
Education permanent-secretary Kamchorn Tatiyakawee yesterday said about 13,000 indebted teachers would be saved from the threat of legal action by the Government Savings Bank (GSB) for defaulting on their loans, after the ministry stepped in.
Earlier, the GSB announced on Monday it would take legal action against about 13,000 teachers.
Dr Kamchorn previously said he feared the teachers' work could be affected if they were blacklisted by the bureau.
The debtors will be classified into three groups who will receive different types of help from the ministry. The first group are those who borrowed money to spend on their sick parents.
The second group are those who borrowed to pay for their children's school tuition, and the last group are those who borrowed for investments or to buy luxury goods.
Dr Kamchorn said teachers in the first and second group will receive debt refinancing packages from the Office of the Welfare Promotion Commission for Teachers and Education Personnel.
The ministry considers these loans as necessary spending, meaning their cases deserve debt restructuring help, he said.
For the third group, the ministry will only provide financial advice to ensure they make sound investments and avoid profligate spending.
The ministry says about 400,000 teachers have outstanding debts with the GSB and the Teachers Saving & Credit Cooperatives.
The debts amounted to around one trillion baht. Of these, more than 1,000 teachers are classified as critical cases.