A former senior education official has been retroacitvely dismissed from office after being accused of neglect of duty in the 2013 assistant teacher exam fraud case.
The dismissal of Chinnapat Bhumirat, a former secretary-general of the Office of the Basic Education Commission was revealed on Thursday by the Education Ministry's civil service subcommittee, which is chaired by Education Minister Dapong Ratanasuwan.
Ex-Obec chief Chinnapat Bhumirat
The decision followed recommendations from earlier findings by a committee investigating civil servants for serious breaches of discipline in connection with the Jan 13, 2013 scandal. It had been discovered that assistant teacher recruitment exam papers and answers were leaked and there was widespread cheating.
The committee, headed by Apichart Jirawut, a former secretary-general of the Higher Education Commission, ruled that Mr Chinnapat was negligent in his duties, causing serious damage to the state under the Civil Service Act 2008. It recommended the dismissal of Mr Chinnapat.
Gen Dapong said although the probe did not find any evidence that the former Obec head, who retired in September 2013, was directly involved with the exam corruption, he was clearly found to have ignored his official duties.
He said the probe found officials had reported the cheating to Mr Chinnapat on the telephone and then submitted evidence to him.
But he ignored the evidence. He did not order an investigation and went on to approve the announcement of the exam results as planned.
Mr Chinnapat claimed he reported the exam cheating to the education minister but investigators found he had informed his superior only after giving his approval for the exam to fill about 2,400 assistant-teacher vacancies.
The dismissal order will not affect Mr Chinnapat’s rights to his pension and he can appeal the panel’s decision within 30 days.
The investigation by the Department Special Investigation found exam papers and answers were leaked in four northeastern provinces — Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Yasothon and Nakhon Ratchasima. Many applicants were found to have used others to sit the exam in their place.
The DSI probe found discrepancies in 486 out of 9,242 exam papers.