Thailand's Education Minister Suchart Backtracks On 'Tea Money'

[webfact]

Minister backtracks on 'tea money'

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- In the face of growing pressure, Education Minister Suchart Tadathamrongvej yesterday backtracked from his policy to legalise the acceptance of "tea money" by famous schools.

"I have never said donations can be used to secure school seats," Suchart said. "I only intended to encourage donations to schools, which is legal. They are even tax deductible."

The minister landed himself in hot water after he suggested on Monday that directors of famous schools should increase the number of available seats to accommodate children of donors whose grades was not too low.

However, this policy drew immediate criticism. Building Thailand Club president Amnuay Sunthornchote vowed to lodge complaints against him with the Administrative Court as well as the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Opposition MPs are also ready to fire impromptu questions at Suchart about his controversial policy in Parliament today.

"I am ready to answer their questions," Suchart said, adding that despite the donations, schools would still have the mandate to decide whether or not they would enrol children of the donors.

"Children's qualifications will still count," he argued.

National Human Rights Commis-sioner Visa Benjamano said the policy linking financial donations to children's chances of getting into school would violate human rights. "It also violates the Constitution," she said.

She said if this policy was implemented, it would encourage discrimination on the basis of financial status.

Dhurakij Pundit University president Dr Varakorn Samakoses said such a policy could encourage corruption and give schools the chance to favour the rich.

Dr Ammar Siamwalla, a member of the Thailand Development Research Institute, said state subsidies were already adequate. "More money [from donations] does not guarantee that the education will be better," he said.

-- The Nation 2012-02-16

[Reasonableman]

Next step, work towards a quality, accessible education system, where students compete academically on a level playing field according to their abilities, not the ability of their parents to pay tea money for admission.

[Zpete]

Next step, work towards a quality, accessible education system, where students compete academically on a level playing field according to their abilities, not the ability of their parents to pay tea money for admission.

Totally agree.

"Dhurakij Pundit University president Dr Varakorn Samakoses said such a policy could encourage corruption and give schools the chance to favour the rich."

But then, it is only perpetuating what already is the practice.

[jonclark]

"..adding that despite the donation schools would still have the mandate to decided whether or not to enrol the childrens of the donors".

So we are expected to beleive that in the wacky world of Surchart, parents roll up to the school on admissions day, pay a 'school fee' which the school accepts and then a few days later the school rings up and explains to the parents, "Thanks for your money, but you need to find another school for your son / daughter - so sorry no refunds!!!" To which the parent replies "Oh no problem after all what's 20'000 baht, can you recommend any other schools??"

[Reasonableman]

"..adding that despite the donation schools would still have the mandate to decided whether or not to enrol the childrens of the donors".

So we are expected to beleive that in the wacky world of Surchart, parents roll up to the school on admissions day, pay a 'school fee' which the school accepts and then a few days later the school rings up and explains to the parents, "Thanks for your money, but you need to find another school for your son / daughter - so sorry no refunds!!!" To which the parent replies "Oh no problem after all what's 20'000 baht, can you recommend any other schools??"

Only 20,000? Try 50,000 plus! A nice little earner, in schools with several hundred new students each year. Anyone can do that math.

[AZBill]

The concept of graft (not to mention the lack of the plain ability to think) is so engrained in the psyche of Thai politicians that they can't even speak outside the language of corruption. This is a perfect example of why we as Americans have no interest in what the Thai government says, thinks or does, and we never will. They are simply irrelevant to the rest of the world and not to be taken seriously. Unfortunately their idiocy is going to cost lives as they bungle their way through the recent terrorist issues despite being warned by those who know better.

[Pib]

Maybe Suchart also read on the negative comments on TV regarding his tea money proposal.

[Reasonableman]

Maybe Suchart also read on the negative comments on TV regarding his tea money proposal.

You think so?

[jonclark]

Maybe Suchart also read on the negative comments on TV regarding his tea money proposal.

You think so?

Good grief what would the world be coming to if TV members started influencing government policy, talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel !!

[Pib]

Maybe Suchart also read on the negative comments on TV regarding his tea money proposal.

You think so?

Good grief what would the world be coming to if TV members started influencing government policy, talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel !!

Wow, with all the different opinions expressed on TV, we would have a super dysfunctional govt if that ever occurred.

[KHR1010]

The concept of graft (not to mention the lack of the plain ability to think) is so engrained in the psyche of Thai politicians that they can't even speak outside the language of corruption. This is a perfect example of why we as Americans have no interest in what the Thai government says, thinks or does, and we never will. They are simply irrelevant to the rest of the world and not to be taken seriously. Unfortunately their idiocy is going to cost lives as they bungle their way through the recent terrorist issues despite being warned by those who know better.

You do not speak for "Americans," many of us have a keen interest in what the Thai government "say, thinks, or does," It is paramount to my multinational corporation which has entered into many joint ventures in energy and oil with Thai State owned entities. Back home in the good-ol People's Republic of America the level of graft, extortion and corruption far exceeds Thailand....US politicians simply package it and sanitize it much better.....however, corruption is corruption regardless is it wrapping paper!!

[LuckyLew]

How much was he paid to back track?

[Joeb]

"I have never said donations can be used to secure school seats," Suchart said

Quote from previous article on this subject:

"He said schools that felt the subsidy provided by the Education Ministry was inadequate could call for donations from parents and open separate classrooms for their children."

[Ricardo]

Maybe Suchart also read on the negative comments on TV regarding his tea money proposal.

You think so?

Good grief what would the world be coming to if TV members started influencing government policy, talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel !!

Perhaps the Education-Minister might like to make a 'donation' to Thai-Visa, in recognition of consultancy-services provided, no-receipt-required of course ? Ker-ching ! Call it a 'contribution' towards our next TV-get-together ?

And perhaps the Minister's boss might note that he's already making serious & embarrassing faux-pas, only a few weeks into his onerous duties, and relieve him of the need/opportunity to make any more ? Or perhaps not, innocent mistakes run in-the-family, so she must allow her Cabinet to make a few too !

Edited February 16, 2012 by Ricardo

[Sydebolle]

Wonders never seize. In 34 months all those little kiddies without tea money support will be even further down the ladder than now. Education = Money or Money = Education. In a country where a normal international school education costs THB 6 mio, (non-deductable from tax) it becomes obvious, why all neighbours will advance quicker than our dear host country. But it's their country; they want to keep their heir uneducation, so be it.

[weegee]

Maybe Suchart also read on the negative comments on TV regarding his tea money proposal.

You think so?

i would just like to have aTV signal long enough to watch the news....LOL

[rubl]

So, can we have a breakdown on how the Ministry of Education expects to spent it's THB 420.4 billion budget allocated in January for fiscal 2012 ?

[samran]

The corruption that occurs in these schools is the result of successive governments not opening the market sufficently.

If you have a good performing school, and the fees are capped, enrollment is restricted to non-monetary criteria, then you are simply going to encourage under the table dealings from parents wanting to get their kids into well renowned schools.

I'd simply advocate following the ministers plan. At least you'd get an transparent functioning of the school system, where the fees would indeed go to either conslidated revenue or to the school facility themselves.

With that pent up demand taken care of from those who are willing to pay the fees in an open market, then the government would be able to move onto creating more 'grammar' schools elsewhere as centres of excellence with those new fees raised.

[robertson468]

"..adding that despite the donation schools would still have the mandate to decided whether or not to enrol the childrens of the donors".

So we are expected to beleive that in the wacky world of Surchart, parents roll up to the school on admissions day, pay a 'school fee' which the school accepts and then a few days later the school rings up and explains to the parents, "Thanks for your money, but you need to find another school for your son / daughter - so sorry no refunds!!!" To which the parent replies "Oh no problem after all what's 20'000 baht, can you recommend any other schools??"

Only 20,000? Try 50,000 plus! A nice little earner, in schools with several hundred new students each year. Anyone can do that math.

Agreed. The better the school, the higher the tea money donation. I know of a case of a parent paying 200,000 baht for entry to one of the top schools in BKK. This was required despite the child being the top student in her year in the whole County of Suratthani.

On the other hand, if the child is already attending the school and parents make a donation to the school, that seems fair enough. Payments prior to acceptance should be illegal.

[Unkomoncents]

Even if the government/Suchart backtracks on the latest boneheaded statement, the damage has been done. What was said is incredibly revealing about a much larger cultural attitude towards education (as a lucrative source of income, among other things) here in Thailand, as well as the basic predisposition of the current government. They are so corrupt that they've actually suggested graft as a government mandated policy. That's when you know things have gotten bad: administration officials believe in kickbacks as the path of righteousness.

[473geo]

"..adding that despite the donation schools would still have the mandate to decided whether or not to enrol the childrens of the donors".

So we are expected to beleive that in the wacky world of Surchart, parents roll up to the school on admissions day, pay a 'school fee' which the school accepts and then a few days later the school rings up and explains to the parents, "Thanks for your money, but you need to find another school for your son / daughter - so sorry no refunds!!!" To which the parent replies "Oh no problem after all what's 20'000 baht, can you recommend any other schools??"

Only 20,000? Try 50,000 plus! A nice little earner, in schools with several hundred new students each year. Anyone can do that math.

Agreed. The better the school, the higher the tea money donation. I know of a case of a parent paying 200,000 baht for entry to one of the top schools in BKK. This was required despite the child being the top student in her year in the whole County of Suratthani.

On the other hand, if the child is already attending the school and parents make a donation to the school, that seems fair enough. Payments prior to acceptance should be illegal.

Most of our parents are encouraged to donate 20,000 to assist with the upkeep and progression of the school, after the the child has attended for six months, how would you feel about that?

Yep sounds much better...........

[TackyToo]

Maybe Suchart also read on the negative comments on TV regarding his tea money proposal.

You think so?

He probably has a secretary, foreign trained- hence, able to read and write...

[xthAi76s]

The concept of graft (not to mention the lack of the plain ability to think) is so engrained in the psyche of Thai politicians that they can't even speak outside the language of corruption. This is a perfect example of why we as Americans have no interest in what the Thai government says, thinks or does, and we never will. They are simply irrelevant to the rest of the world and not to be taken seriously. Unfortunately their idiocy is going to cost lives as they bungle their way through the recent terrorist issues despite being warned by those who know better.

You do not speak for "Americans," many of us have a keen interest in what the Thai government "say, thinks, or does," It is paramount to my multinational corporation which has entered into many joint ventures in energy and oil with Thai State owned entities. Back home in the good-ol People's Republic of America the level of graft, extortion and corruption far exceeds Thailand....US politicians simply package it and sanitize it much better.....however, corruption is corruption regardless is it wrapping paper!!

I'm interested in this argument. Can you give me an example of how corruption is much worse in America? This is a very popular pronouncement, but I've rarely (if ever) seen anyone lay out the argument in detail.

[Unkomoncents]

The concept of graft (not to mention the lack of the plain ability to think) is so engrained in the psyche of Thai politicians that they can't even speak outside the language of corruption. This is a perfect example of why we as Americans have no interest in what the Thai government says, thinks or does, and we never will. They are simply irrelevant to the rest of the world and not to be taken seriously. Unfortunately their idiocy is going to cost lives as they bungle their way through the recent terrorist issues despite being warned by those who know better.

You do not speak for "Americans," many of us have a keen interest in what the Thai government "say, thinks, or does," It is paramount to my multinational corporation which has entered into many joint ventures in energy and oil with Thai State owned entities. Back home in the good-ol People's Republic of America the level of graft, extortion and corruption far exceeds Thailand....US politicians simply package it and sanitize it much better.....however, corruption is corruption regardless is it wrapping paper!!

OK, so the "level of graft, extortion and corruption far exceeds Thailand". Is that in terms of the amount of money changing hands or the number people engaged in it? According to Transparency International, the US is significantly less corrupt than Thailand. Also, I have lived in America for more than two decades and in Thailand for more than five years. In my experience, there is absolutely no comparison between the US and Canada. I've been shaken down for various imagined offenses by the police dozens of times. I paid a Chinese visa brokerage to arrange my marriage visa and I was seated very comfortably at one of the immigration officers desk so I could see the little system both marriage visa officers have in relation to the "agents" for people of various nationalities. The hand goes in the nearest drawer with little donations for each application received. The agents do the paying and the officers sit there and pen in fields on the applications. These are the kinds of things you just don't see on an everyday kind of basis; I never ONCE personally experience corruption like this in any country except Thailand and the South American countries I've visited. I also lived in Korea for a couple of years and I was shocked by the behavior in Thailand. It was reminiscent of my time living in Ecuador though. Thailand is royally corrupt and comparisons really don't need to be the point.

Edited February 16, 2012 by Unkomoncents

[TheyCallmeScooter]

I'm interested in this argument. Can you give me an example of how corruption is much worse in America? This is a very popular pronouncement, but I've rarely (if ever) seen anyone lay out the argument in detail.

You need US$1,000,000,000 (one billion USD) to campaign for the White House?

This is what Spam will charge (and 'give' you) just to line up for the race. But then they're not giving it to you for America's sake. That would make the entire thing somewhat redundant. Representative democracy is the illusion where any two idiots can outvote a sane voter; but together - all their votes count for a great deal less than they could ever fathom. Basically zero. Just because they spend "$274 per vote" (and all these ridiculous figures) doesn't mean they're spending...on you. They're just spending. You're not important enough to warrant anything but the implied insult demanded by your need to 'identify' with and 'connect / 'resonate' with the rhetoric. You don't care if they don't follow through. You never hold them to account. The idea that your warlords might have invented the word traitor in a rare moment of delightful irony...has never occurred to you.

"Kings love the treason, but the traitor they hate."

It's a perfectly ghastly and repetitive charade.

They lie to your face, and you say "that's cool; they're allowed to - we're tight, go Team Blue!" They can send you to war when you're unsure but the second your kid is killed, you know he died a hero. And you'll clamour down the voices of those who were attempting to save lives in the first place; whilst those who understand concepts like "political expediency" and the "fierce urgency of capitalising on your apathy, now" bribe the Taliban to chill out and buy some weapons and fudge the numbers for a bit aiight? Of course it's aiight. But then it wouldn't be, if they didn't figure it to be in their best interests to - not - to kill the invaders for a few months. They get paid a lot to chill out, after which they come back a lot harder and stronger all cashed up on promotional offers from Western arms manufacturers, where - with Western money - they bought the means to kill more Western slaves. Time for a truce! Evil is too fierce, and you never contemplate on why anyone could even have a motive to hurt or kill you.

"Go Team Red, Onwards Christian Soldiers!" Your captain is shaving endless points for the shifty silent types who give billions of dollars away to elect the men who will send the nation's assets into action; when some pesky cartels have gotten too competitive for the local fellows to handle. Hurrah for the return of the status quo. Rats; how did we not see that coming Team? So crafty, that Sinaloa master tactician, getting us to kill every other cartel - for - him.

Corruption is the same everywhere. They're all working in synchronised tandem to exploit the same victims; their victims. Your government, every government, is engaging in campaigns of unfathomable creepy long-ball. From the moment a child is impressionable, until the day he perpetuates...his bloodline. You're bred by geniuses. You should be very chuffed. Governments aren't interested in foreign affairs unless they're ambitious enough to fancy their chances in the nose-bleeds. Your noses. You're the marbles. They just roll them into each other.

It's a gentleman's game. You wouldn't understand, if you're the fodder. Corruption runs through humanity from top to bottom. But it gets really creepy when people start comparing degrees of exploitation.

"My Dad can beat me up harder than your Dad."

"No way, take that back or we'll have to take it outside..!"

"Fight fight fight.

And somewhere in Italy, a Holy Roman Emperor smirks...the Westphalia illusion was a good one, but now they'll be cooking up the sequel. The illusions are tumbling down; I sense a return to "might is right". And you're only ever as 'mighty' as you are capable of persuading others to die for a pretext. Literally, any pretext will do. What say you?

That one. That one will do. What luck for you. You were willing to die or kill in fear of X, and - just like that - X was brought to frighten you.

Just like that. No one could have seen that coming. Who knew..!

[Reasonableman]

Well, that makes a break from conspiracy theories on TVF.

[TheyCallmeScooter]

But about schools.

The way I read this here incident pan out was:

* Government minister attempts to bring transparency into a shady 'tidy' and lucrative practice where cash is exchanged under the tea table in unknown sums without care or consideration to where it ends up, or with whom.

* Government minister says, "Let's bring some transparency into it. Some decency. Everyone knows the rich pay for their kids to get into the 'right' schools so rather than let school administrators walk away with the loot; let's structure it so that it's invested in the schools". Which is how it's done in the Ivy Leagues, by the by.

* The response? Sneers, jeers and idiotic 'confusion'; from the school administrators who were collecting the tea money in lieu of their schools. What possible motive could they have, I wonder; for sustainment of the status quo?

* The campaign is so ferocious, even ridiculously so; the decent minister is forced onto the back foot, defending against slurs and smear and trying to explain away the 'confusion' of school principals who weren't remotely confused at all. Nothing could have been less confusing. That's why they were - so audibly - 'confused'.

That's funny. You guys thought he was the bad guy huh? I've just read your working....

At school, I read "To be great is to be misunderstood."

I think you're all really great. Or something.

[Reasonableman]

I guess being misunderstood beats being not understood at all. The Minister proposed legalising the purchase of places for students of low academic ability via "donations". It is a corrupt and discriminatory practice, as many here have said. You seem to agree. So wouldn't it be better to try to remove it so that students applying to selective schools are admitted on academic merit rather than iniquitous compulsory "donations", nepotism, etc., as is currently the case?

Edited February 18, 2012 by Reasonableman

[sparebox2]

Like illegal lottery, if it stay underground, it is OK, as it keep both the police and the bad people happy.

Legalize it, and both side loose out.

[TheyCallmeScooter]

I guess being misunderstood beats being not understood at all. The Minister proposed legalising the purchase of places for students of low academic ability via "donations". It is a corrupt and discriminatory practice, as many here have said. You seem to agree. So wouldn't it be better to try to remove it so that students applying to selective schools are admitted on academic merit rather than iniquitous compulsory "donations", nepotism, etc., as is currently the case?

That would be the ideal, yes; and Natalie Portman will be there in lingerie and fresh avocadoes on rye and some Chilean dry white...or then we can get back to the real world where it will never be eradicated unless it's brought out into the open. What am I missing? It seems like a clean choice between the administrators getting it or the school facilities improving, no? Also, a great deal of these 'prestige' affairs are tied into the veneer of squeaky clean (even if everyone knows Jnr's Dad bought him a place; as long as there is plausible deniability it will be deemed 'acceptable' - if everything gets dragged out into the open, all sorts of positive things happen like, for example, Jnr's parents being forced to think about whether the school they're [no longer] bribing is worth their contribution - Jnr, for his part, is out in the open - he can't roll along on denials; everyone will know who bought their way in and who got there on merit).

Like illegal lottery, if it stay underground, it is OK, as it keep both the police and the bad people happy.

Legalize it, and both side loose out.

Bingo.