My sympathies to the 727 rural teachers in Nakhon Ratchasima province who will be facing disciplinary action for their supposed roles in the futsal pitch scandal.
The Office of the Basic Education Commission (BEC) will be in charge of the investigation after it receives the list of teachers identified by the government sector’s anti-corruption commission as being implicated in the scandal.
This is just the beginning of a wider investigation into the futsal pitches, with 54 built at primary schools in Nakhon Ratchasima alone.
Damage is clearly evident in this poorly built futsal pitch at a school in Nakhon Ratchasima (Bangkok Post photo)
For reasons yet to be clarified, this northeastern province was allocated 175 million baht -- a giant share of the approximately 690 million baht total budget allocated to build 358 futsal pitches in 17 provinces, mostly in the Northeast.
Prayong Preeyajit, secretary-general of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), said the entire project in Nakhon Ratchasima, 54 futsal pitches, was rigged with irregularities at all stages starting from the drawing up of terms of reference, the setting of median prices, the e-auction process and the acceptance of the delivery of the finished pitches.
He added that all the 727 teachers implicated were involved in overseeing the auction and in accepting the delivery of the futsal pitches.
But many teachers were reported to have said they knew nothing about the terms of reference, the median price or the choice of contractors, and were forced by their superiors to sit in on the auction and project delivery committees.
Arporn Inthusophon, a teacher at Ban Don Pawa school in Non Soong district, complained that her name was included in the committee to accept the pitch at the school without her knowledge or consent.
She said there were nine teachers at the school and all were on the committees relating to the futsal project. Just imagine if all nine of them are found guilty and disciplined, what will happen to the school and the students -- left without a single teacher.
The futsal pitch project was a top down project – one which was entirely conceived by some unscrupulous politicians who saw a gold mine in the huge budget, about four billlion baht allocated for the Office of Basic Education Commission to repair schools under its jurisdiction that were damaged by the big flood in 2011.
Hence, about 690 million baht was skimmed from the budget for the futsal pitches during the parliamentary scrutinising period.
The teachers are mere scapegoats because they had nothing to do with the project right from the beginning -- neither the initiative, the drafting of the terms nor the selection the contractors. Bluntly said, the project was forced down their throats and they were unable to protest.
To be fair the investigation must therefore start from the top down. The PAAC, the National Audit Office, the Department of Special Investigation, the Anti-Money Laundering Office -- all now involved in the probe -- should try to identify the real masterminds, those who initiated the project, wrote the terms of reference and set the prices.
By targeting the poor teachers first, the authorities seek only to punish the small fry -- and as usual the voracious big fish go free.