Child molesters to lose teaching licences: Thai council

BANGKOK: — The Teachers’ Council of Thailand at the Education Ministry will revoke the licences of teachers who molest pupils, on top of disciplinary and criminal punishments against such offenders.

Office of the Basic Education Commission chief Kamol Rodklai said yesterday that the council had informed him that incidents of teachers molesting students would be regarded as major cases and council officials would assist any police investigation.

Education Minister Admiral Narong Pipathanasai said the council’s secretariat had reported the progress of a probe into a male schoolteacher accused of molesting four boys during a field trip in Singapore.

The council said his teaching licence would be revoked if he were found guilty.

“The process of selecting teachers cannot screen all [the bad candidates]out, and there are nearly 400,000 teachers in Thailand, hence a large organisation like this is bound to have some bad apples,” Narong said. “People who apply to be teachers don’t show an inappropriate side while applying for the job but when they actually work and are exposed to temptations, some might do inappropriate things, and they must be probed and severely punished if found guilty,” he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Child-molesters-to-lose-teaching-licences-council-30257782.html