The Office of the Basic Education (Obec) has transferred Prayong Saraphum, director of Sa Kaeo's Secondary Education Service Area Office, to its headquarters pending a probe into his involvement in the removal of a woman from a list of candidates who passed an exam to become a teacher in Sa Kaeo province.
Benyapa Yen-udom was replaced by another person on the list despite it being initially announced she had the highest test score in her bid to become a science teacher at a state school in the province. Obec will wrap up its investigation this week, according to Deputy Education Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul.
Mr Surasak said Obec's legal office has taken the exam results of some 100 candidates to verify them and ensure fairness. Should the exam be rechecked and it transpires Ms Benyapa did not, in fact, receive the highest mark, she will receive compensation for the financially damaging decisions, including resigning from her current post, which she took based on the assumption.
The case entered the spotlight last Thursday when Ms Benyapa, 24, posted on her Facebook page that Sa Kaeo's Secondary Education Service Area Office announced a list of nine names who passed a teacher's exam on Sept 9. She was placed first to be employed as a science teacher.
On Sept 12, however, her name vanished after the office revealed a revised list. Someone else took her place. Ms Benyapa said she had already resigned from her current teaching position in Ayutthaya with the hope of becoming a teacher in her hometown. Worse yet, she received a call from Sa Kaeo's Secondary Education Service Area Office ordering her to delete her post.
Mr Prayong, the director of Sa Kaeo's Secondary Education Service Area Office, said it was an error made by an official who somehow mistook the name of Ms Benyapa, whose registration number was one digit ahead of the actual winner. He insisted Ms Benyapa did not get the top score and did not even finish among the top nine candidates on the list.
However, Ms Benyapa expressed confidence that she had performed well on the test.
"I want the truth revealed because I have not received a clear explanation as to what happened yet," she said.