Adulterous teachers face the chop
The Education Ministry would increase disciplinary punishments for state school teachers who have extra-marital affairs - from salary cuts to dismissal from the civil service, Education permanent secretary Jaruayporn Thoranin said yesterday.
The Committee for Teachers and Education Personnel agreed in principle yesterday to toughen penalties for teachers and education personnel who commit adultery or have an extra-marital affair, Jaruayporn said.
The current disciplinary punishment was a salary cut but the new ruling would set up a fact-finding panel to look into alleged wrongdoing and if an allegation had grounds, a disciplinary investigation would be carried out, Jaruayporn said.
If a disciplinary inquiry deemed a teacher guilty, punishment could vary from dismissal from the service - with or without pension - to the revoking of a teacher's vocational permit, she said.
However, the committee asked that the new measure be compared with other agencies' regulations before it was re-submitted for consideration on Tuesday, she said.
The spur for increased punishments stemmed from the fact that every time the committee met to discuss disciplinary measures, the issue of teachers' adulterous affairs was raised. Thus the committee felt tougher punishment was needed to stop such offences occurring.
The Nation