National Institute of Education Testing Service (NIETS) director Sampan Panpruk said the average scores among 700,000 Prathom 6 pupils were 46.58 in Thai language, 36.34 in English, 37.12 in mathematics and 39.12 in science.

Among 640,000 Mathayom 3 students, the scores were 48.29 in Thai, 30.45 in English, 26.3 in math and 32.28 in science.

The Prathom 6 math score average was four points lower than last year’s and the science score two points lower.

O-Net results for Mathayom 6 (Grade 12) will be announced on March 31, a few days earlier than planned so that they can be applied in the Thai University Central Admission System for academic year 2018, Sampan said.

Students can submit requests from March 31-April 1 to see their answer sheets on April 3.

General Aptitude Test (GAT) and Professional and Academic Aptitude Test (PAT) results will also be announced early, on April 2, while results for the national test on nine-core subjects will be available on April 8.

Supawadi Sripor, a 12-year-old Prathom 6 student at Ban Dong Krapung Nong Na Saeng School in northeastern Bueng Kan province, scored a perfect 100 points in the O-Net math exam, fuelling her dreams of becoming a teacher.

Supawadi also scored 82 in Thai, 67 in science and 30 in English in O-Net.

Sitthipol Asawaphum, director of the rural school, said Supawadi’s success was a source of pride for its 10 teachers and 135 pupils.

He said its students had been among the country’s top scorers in O-Net for the past five years and credited the teachers for effectively managing classes on a limited budget.

Math teacher Pisal Phromjak said Supawadi had been brilliant in math since third grade, when she scored 100 points in the National Test. She was among the top fifth of students in mathematics last year and this year in the Bueng Kan Primary Educational Service Area.

Pisal bases his lessons on Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology textbooks and practice questions from old exam papers.

Supawadi’s mother Khampoon Sipor, a rubber tapper by profession, said she trusted the teachers’ academic guidance.

She said Supawadi is her second and younger daughter and a responsible child who willingly helps with household chores.

Natural Fruit Co Ltd sued Hall for defamation following an interview he gave to Al-Jazeera English TV channel in Myanmar in April 2013.

The court also ordered Hall to pay a sum of Bt10,000 for the plaintiff’s lawyer and court fees, and interest at 7.5 per cent per annum from the date of the filing of this case until the amount is fully paid.

Hall, who is overseas at the moment, said he would appeal against the ruling.

“I did not expect this verdict and am very disappointed by it,” he said.

He was worried that the verdict would be a major setback for the rights of human rights defenders, migrant workers, labour/migration activists and researchers everywhere, and more importantly casts a dark shadow over recent positive progress the Thai government and Thai industry has made to improve migrant worker conditions.

BMTA, which operates the city bus service, had late last year signed a contract to buy 489 NGV-powered buses from SCN-CHO, a consortium of Scan Inter Plc (SCN) and Cho Thavee Plc (CHO). The first batch of 100 buses was introduced by the BMTA on Monday. The rest of the fleet will be delivered by June.

The five routes on which the first 100 buses will run from Tuesday are: No 20 from Pom Phra Chulachomklao to Tha Din Daeng; No 21 from Wat Khu Srang-Chulalongkorn University; No 105 from Mahachai Muang Mai- Khlong San; No 138 from Phra Pha Daeng-Mo Chit 2; and No 140 from Samae Dam-Victory Monument.

The new NGV buses are low-decked types, 12 metres in length, with the capacity to seat 35 passengers.

The buses have been designed under universal design themes, which includes offering easier and safer travel for handicapped and elderly people. Among facilities provided are a big digital board showing the route, five CCTVs, and a folding car ramp for wheelchair users.

In the future, Wi-Fi, e-ticket readers that will support state welfare card holders, and a common ticket system or Mangmoom card that will allow commuters to travel with a single ticket, will be provided, BMTA deputy director Prayoon Chuaykaew, who is also acting director of BMTA, said.

The full NGV fleet comes at a cost Bt4.26 billion – Bt1.89 billion for the buses and Bt2.37 billion for 10 years of maintenance service. SCN-CHO was the sole bidder for the BMTA contract.

Bangkokians have waited for more than 10 years for the project to come to fruition.

After all the 489 NGV buses are delivered by June, the BMTA plans to buy 3,000 hybrid buses next year, Prayoon said.

Yala new usually receives about 600,000 visitors per year – a figure that is expected to rise to one million annually after the new airport is opened.

The Cabinet also recently approved a runway extension from the original length of 1,800 metres to 2,100 metres – which will allow for large aircraft to land.

The airport construction is one of a series of tourism-related infrastructure projects intended to attract more tourists to Yala’s Betong, Narathiwat’s Su-ngai Kolok and Pattani’s Nong Chik towns as per the Thai government’s “triangle economy city model” programme.

This amount will be included in a civil lawsuit filed against Premchai, president of Italian-Thai Development Plc, and his three companions, who were arrested at the park in Kanchanaburi province in early February.

Premchai and his companions have already been charged with nine criminal counts related to poaching after the remains of protected animals, including a black leopard, were found at their campsite.

Public prosecutors recommended that police initiate the civil lawsuit against the suspects and seek compensation for damages.

The source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the damage was initially set at Bt3 million, but that sum was reviewed by a committee chaired by department deputy director-general Jongklai Worapongsathorn. Chaiwat Limlikit-aksorn, chief of the department’s Phaya Sua wildlife enforcement taskforce, who led the raid and arrested the suspects, was a member of the committee.

The damage included the expense to authorities of breeding, caring for and returning to the wild protected animals to replace those that were killed, as well as subsequent efforts to ensure their welfare.

The same source said expenses related to the black leopard were estimated to be Bt12 million, while the remaining Bt750,000 was for a wild boar and kalij pheasant.

The department has already submitted its report to Kanchanaburi police, who will forward it to public prosecutors.

Meanwhile, deputy national police chief Pol General Srivara Rangsibhramanakul said police had also decided to seek a charge against Premchai concerning two pairs of tusks seized from his house.

Permits for the tusks suggested that they were from domestic elephants, but tests proved they were of African origin. As authorities had not found customs records for the tusks, they were seeking to charge Premchai for violating customs laws. The tusks are estimated to be worth Bt4 million.

Police have already sent a docket concerning the nine criminal charges against Premchai, who is free on bail, to prosecutors. However, the file was sent back with a request for more information.

Srivara also lashed out at criticism that the request showed police had not been working hard enough. He said police had only just received from the Wildlife Department results of DNA tests on the animal remains found in a garbage bag at Premchai’s campsite.

“It is normal practice that prosecutors ask for more information. We’ve just received DNA results from the department, so we will add those to the case before re-submitting it to prosecutors,” he said.

He warned people who criticised police to express their opinions “within boundaries”, while threatening that police might bring lawsuits against critics.

“Maybe they [critics] have nothing to do, or are jobless, so they criticise us,” Srivara said.

Premchai and the three others suspects yesterday reported themselves to Kanchanaburi police as ordered by the court. They refused to talk to waiting

THE EDUCATION Ministry sacked a senior official yesterday and plans to claim compensation from everyone involved in irregular disbursements from its Educational Fund for Life Development between 2007 and 2018, after more than Bt100 million was found to have been illicitly diverted during the period.

Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said yesterday he had set up a committee to investigate officials involved.

“Some officials shall be held accountable for breaches. Even if some officials were not engaged in corruption, they can be held responsible for negligence,” Teerakiat said.

He added that he expected the committee to identify the amounts each involved official would have to pay back to the fund in compensation.

A source, who asked to remain anonymous, said if they were convicted of breaches of duty, Finance Department officials could be held responsible for 60 per cent of damages while relevant supervisors and officials that had granted approval for the disbursements would probably be responsible for the remainder.

“Probably, the permanent secretary for education may have to pay 20 per cent of the damages,” the source said.

Rojana Sintee, the C8-ranked official who was fired from the ministry yesterday, has claimed that she acted alone in embezzling money from the fund.

Investigating authorities, however, have said they suspected many more officials were involved.

Established in 1999, the Educational Fund for Life Development had a start-up budget of more than Bt600 million with the founding objective to boost educational opportunities for underprivileged children.

Rojana was in charge of preparing a list of fund recipients, but she also included the bank accounts of her relatives and other people she knew. After disbursements were approved, as much as Bt118 million was transferred to 22 bank accounts.

All of the accounts were closed on February 22.

Pol Lt-Colonel Siripong Sritula of the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) said inspections at Rojana’s house suggested she had not been the only one receiving ill-gotten gains from embezzled funds.

“We will try to find out if an official more senior than [Rojana] was involved,” he said.

In a related development, PACC assistant secretary-general Pol Lt-Colonel Wannop Somjintanakul said yesterday his agency had finished its preliminary investigation of 53 protection centres for the destitute and found suspicious practices at all of them. In the last fiscal year, they received Bt107 million.

There are 76 protection centres for the destitute in Thailand, all of which receive state budgets from the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, which are meant to help underprivileged people in their respective areas.

The PACC began investigating the centres after a university student, who was posted as a trainee at the Khon Kaen Protection Centre for the Destitute, alerted her university and authorities about irregularities. She said she had been instructed by centre officials to forge signatures on official forms.

The investigation later revealed many eligible people had not received financial aid, although official records bearing forged signatures claimed they had been recipients.

The PACC has already detected irregularities at 53 centres, with the 23 other centres still being investigated.

Wannop said recently alleged new irregularities had been confirmed at centres in Loei, Chon Buri, Phuket and Pattani provinces.

The PACC has also investigated four self-help settlements on suspicion that they also might have been involved in corruption.

Three of those cases have been or will be handed over to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) given suspicious practices appearing to implicate very senior officials.

The PACC can investigate alleged wrongdoing by officials ranked up to the level of C7 only. Thailand’s bureaucratic system is ranked based on seniority from C1 to C11, and officials ranked C9 or higher are the responsibility of the NACC.

AUTHORITIES HAVE denied rumours that bird-flu infections were detected in Thailand last year.

At least three relevant agencies, including the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry, will also join a press conference today to assure the public that the country has not seen any bird-flu cases for more than a decade.

Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Grisada Boonrach said yesterday that his ministry would not try to hide a bird-flu infection because concealment would not deliver any benefit.

“We are telling the truth,” he said.

Grisada said he had already talked to Public Health Ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr Jedsada Chokdamrongsuk, who also insisted no one had been infected with bird flu during the past year.

“Both ministries have constantly monitored the situation,” Grisada said.

He was speaking after Dr Thiravat Hemachudha, a prominent doctor at the Chulalongkorn University, was quoted in a new report as suggesting that animal deaths at the Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo might have been linked to bird flu and that the dangerous virus linked to the disease might have undergone DNA changes.

Lawsuits recommended

Dr Teerawat Valaisathien, who heads Disease Prevention Control Office 9, also previously said that bird flu had killed civets at the Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo, very likely because of infected animal feed.

Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo’s director, Tewin Rattanawongsawat, recently said that although many animals died just outside his zoo months ago, Livestock Development Department (LDD) tests confirmed they did not die of bird flu.

At present, LDD labs are said to be the only facilities equipped to determine whether an animal has died of bird flu.

Grisada yesterday said any businesses affected by the false rumours could turn to the court to seek compensation.

The Thai Broiler Processing Exporters’ Association, however, said the rumours had not affected business operations to date.

“Buyers pay attention to official information from the Livestock Development Department,” the association’s manager Kukrit Areepakorn said.

The Disease Control Department’s director-general, Dr Suwannachai Wattana-yingcharoenchai, separately said yesterday that the last time a bird-flu patient was confirmed in Thailand was in 2006.

“We have not seen any bird-flu infection since that year,” he said.

He said had a bird-flu infection occurred, it would have been impossible for anyone to try to hide it.

Pol Colonel Mana Kleepsatabutr said the 29-year-old woman had been rescued by the Thai Consular Office in Bahrain on Saturday, and she was staying at the Thai Embassy in Manama pending repatriation to Thailand.

Mana said the woman had been deceived by two Thai women into believing that she would be sent to work as a masseuse in South Korea, but that it would involve travelling to Bahrain to receive training first.

The two women took the victim to apply for a passport on March 12 and, in her first trip abroad, she travelled to Bahrain last Tuesday, after which she was forced into prostitution.

The woman was held captive in Manama, assaulted and forced into prostitution on the grounds that she had to repay the “debts” incurred because of her agents’ commission and other expenses.

Mana said the woman had used the Line application to send a message to her brother in Thailand last Friday.

The brother then sought help from a Damrong Tham complaints centre at the Interior Ministry, which in turn cooperated with the Thai Consular Office to rescue her.

Mana added that police would arrest the two female brokers, who would face human-trafficking charges.

Mana urged people, especially women wanting to work abroad, to find jobs through the Ministry of Labour to prevent them from being victimised by traffickers.

He added that witnesses of human trafficking could contact authorities via the police hotline 191 and 1191 or the Social Development and Human Security Ministry’s hotline 1130.

According to the Pavena Foundation for Children and Women, 127 Thai women called the foundation for help, saying they were victims of human traffickers, from January 1 to December 31 last year, including two 15-year-old girls who were forced into prostitution in Thailand.

The 125 others were Thai women forced into prostitution in other countries, with Bahrain ranking at the top with 50 victims, followed by 26 in Malaysia, 12 in Oman, nine in the United Arab Emirates and seven in South Korea.

The foundation also reported that 111 women had been rescued from forced prostitution in 2013, 153 in 2014, 200 in 2015 and 167 in 2016.

Thai and Malaysian tourists can be seen thronging its streets in great numbers.

At dusk, the town, situated in a valley and often covered by mist, is aglow with lights from street lamps and the neon lights of entertainment venues.

The town’s nightlife has been dull since the emergency was declared in 2005.

Now, Betong is known for its communal harmony. Both Muslims and Buddhists follow different cultures and religions but they have been co-existing with mutual respect. As a result, there are rarely any violent incidents in the town. This situation prompted the government to lift the emergency.

Army troops have been withdrawn and they have been replaced with locally recruited rangers who have close ties with local people, thus reducing tension between the state and local Muslims.

The town has once again become a peaceful tourist destination. Buddhist monks are back on their alms-collecting rounds, without fear of violence. The reassuring presence of police and rangers can be seen on the streets, but they mostly just smile at tourists and sometimes act as photographers.

With the peaceful atmosphere and a revival in tourism, the beautiful border area has become a model town with a sustainable economy.

Pol Colonel Mana Kleepsatabutr said the 29-year-old woman had been rescued by the Thai Consular Office in Bahrain on Saturday, and she was now staying at the Thai Embassy in Manama pending repatriation to Thailand.

Mana said the woman had been deceived by two Thai women into believing that she would be sent to work as a masseuse in South Korea, but that it would involve travelling to Bahrain to receive training first.

The two women took the victim to apply for a passport on March 12 and she travelled to Bahrain on March 20, after which she was forced into prostitution.

Mana said the woman had the opportunity to use the LINE application to send a message to her brother in Thailand last Friday.

The brother then sought help from the Damrong Tham complaints receiving centre of the Interior Ministry, which in turn cooperated with the Thai Consular Office in order to rescue her.

Mana added that police would arrest the two female brokers, who would face human-trafficking charges.