Learning curves

Learning curves

A former director at Assumption College who sources say ignored the opinions of others and pushed ahead with massive development plans is at the centre of a controversy that has seen the DSI being brought in to examine accounts

Saint Gabriel's Foundation _ which runs one of Thailand's oldest and most respected private educational institutions _ has at the core of its religious philosophy the pursuit of truth above all else.

"The purpose of man's existence is to know the truth and to love and search for it as the source of life and all knowledge," the Catholic religious order states proudly.

Adherence to that principal by parents, teachers and students connected with Bangkok's Assumption College helped overturn one of the most calamitous chapters in its 112-year history in the Kingdom, marked by allegations of mismanagement of funds and underpayment of staff triggered by the folly of one man's "grand vision".

At the end of January, Brother Anant Prichavudhi, was replaced as director of Assumption College after nine years in the position. His removal followed a rally on Jan 25 attended by about 1,500 teachers, students, parents and alumni who gathered at the college's Bangrak campus to demand Br Anant stand down.

Br Anant had been branded a "dictator" by some, and had upset parents and teachers alike.

What earned the ire of teachers was an apparent U-turn on pay rises, a "vague plan" to merge the primary and secondary schools and the establishment of the Assumption College Rama II Campus in Samut Sakhon province, replete with a 15,000-seat football stadium, an Olympic-size swimming pool and a 5,000-seat indoor gymnasium.

Parents had expressed concerns that "donations", sometimes of up to 300,000 baht and paid to ensure a student's place at the school, were being directed to finance the new campus instead of being used for educational purposes.

Despite repeated requests to St Gabriel's Foundation, Spectrum was told that Br Anant, who has denied any wrongdoing, was not available for interview.

SCHOOL'S OUT

STARTING POINT: Assumption College’s main Bang Rak campus, above. The college has a 112 year history in Thailand.

Assumption College Parent-Teacher Association (ACPTA) committee member Werachai Wongboonsin said teachers, alumni and parents were upset because they believed Br Anant was taking the school in the wrong direction and not listening to other opinions.

''For the past nine years that he was the school's director, he focused solely on improving the school's infrastructure. He completely overlooked the academic development of the students and teachers,'' said Mr Werachai.

''He spent a lot of money improving the appearance of the school buildings and grounds to make the school look good from the outside. But the students and teachers were neglected and received no financial support for extracurricular activities. In the past, Assumption College was known as a school that focused on extracurricular activities, as well as the academic curriculum.''

Mr Werachai said such activities helped students identify their interests and what subjects they should pursue at higher educational levels prior to choosing a career. Many of the current crop of students and teachers were forced to pay for these activities out of their own pockets.

''Another sad effect of Br Anant's administration was that students no longer saw Assumption College as a place where they could receive a good education to prepare them for life,'' he said.

Controversy also flared over instructions from St Gabriel's Foundation to increase base salaries (including some benefits) of teachers with bachelor's degrees from 11,680 baht to 15,300 baht per month. This was to take effect at 14 schools and one university from the start of 2012, but Br Anant allegedly refused to fully implement the pay rises.

One source said Br Anant wrote to the Office of the Private Education Commission (Opec) asking it to clarify whether ''educational personnel'' (ie classroom assistants) qualified for the increase.

Br Anant received no clarification from Opec, and believed that classroom assistants did not qualify for the increase, as they were not teaching in class.

Mr Werachai added that the rumour that the primary and secondary school sections were to merge was the final straw for the teachers.

''The merger wasn't the issue for the teachers; what they had a problem with was that Br Anant didn't make clear what would happen to the teachers,'' Mr Werachai said.

''Some people heard that Br Anant would sell one school after combining the two at one site. Some heard that the teachers from the primary school would have to resign and reapply for their jobs at the secondary school. They were all concerned about what would happen with their new contracts.''

THE SUPER CAMPUS

Br Anant's grandest legacy was to be the Assumption College Rama II Campus, located almost 30km from the main campus in Bang Rak.

The Bang Rak campus is located on a prime site with the Chao Phraya on one side and the Charoen Krung-Silom intersection on the other. The school _ with 5,000 students _ is sandwiched between the Oriental-Mandarin and Shangri-La hotels with good access to the skytrain.

The new campus, located in Samut Sakhon province, was to be built on 37 hectare site at a cost of 2.5 billion baht.

CHILD’S PLAY: Students play in the limited space available at Assumption College, Bang Rak.

Construction started in January, 2009, with 75% of the work scheduled to be completed by 2015. Six zones were planned for the campus _ an administration centre, the school buildings, a sports complex, a church and auditorium, a scout camp and recreation zone, and accommodation for the Christian brothers.

The centrepiece was to be a 15,000-seat stadium with two football practice grounds. A 5,000-seat indoor stadium was also planned to accommodate two basketball courts, two volleyball courts, four badminton courts and six sepak takraw (kick volleyball) courts. The campus would also be home to an Olympic-size pool, eight tennis courts and a fitness centre.

The source said the plan was for the campus to accommodate all 14 Assumption schools on their annual sports day, and also to service the local community's needs. He said there were no plans to rent out the stadium or facilities on a commercial basis to help cover expenses.

St Gabriel's Foundation declined several requests from Spectrum to detail how the project was funded. However, a source close to the scheme said it had the full approval of the foundation.

DOUBTS ARISE

In late January, parents of students at Assumption College lodged a letter with the Department of Special Investigation asking it to examine the foundation's bank accounts. Wiwatchai Kulmart, an adviser to a network of parents and children for education reform, said they wanted to know whether donations to the foundation of more than two billion baht had been properly acquired.

Assumption College has posted its latest annual report, for the year 2011, on the college's website. This includes a summary of the college's accounts.

The Matthayom section shows income of 291.95 million baht, made up of tuition fees totalling 154 million baht, ''activities fees'' of 65.92 million baht and 72.02 million baht from ''other services''.

Expenses, including teachers' salaries of 139.48 million baht, total 286.54 million baht, leaving a balance of 5.41 million baht.

The Prathom section shows income of 179.16 million baht from tuition fees and 62.46 million baht for ''other services''. Expenses, including teachers' salaries of 106.23 million baht, total 234.46 million baht, leaving a balance of 7.16 million baht.

Mr Wiwatchai said the parents wanted the DSI to check the financial history of the foundation's executives, their families, close associates and even priests for signs of ''unusual wealth''.

He alleged the school collected 750,000 baht for the enrolment of each Prathom 1 student, made up of 450,000 baht for tuition fees and 300,000 baht in ''donations'', or pae jia (tea money), which had helped finance Assumption's Bang Na and Rama II campuses.

The DSI said it was investigating the complaints raised in the letter, but could not yet reveal any of its findings.

Mr Werachai said the Samut Sakhon mega-campus sounded like a great idea to his association, but they were surprised when Br Anant had asked to borrow 100 million baht from the ACPTA's emergency funds for the project. Mr Werachai said they flatly rejected Br Anant's request.

''Br Anant started building without discussing it with anyone,'' said Mr Werachai. ''He somehow managed to get the money from somewhere to start the project. So far, two school buildings have been built and are already operating as English Programme [EP] schools.''

Mr Werachai said the long-term plan was to move all EP students to the new campus, but so far only new Matthayom 1 and Matthayom 4 and Prathom 1 and 4 students had been accepted.

No students have yet been forced to relocate from the Bang Rak campus.

One Matthayom 4 student at the old campus said he would not move to the new one. ''The reason we enrolled in this school is because it is convenient for my parents to take me to school. I won't move to the Rama II campus because it is so far out of town, and I'm not sure if they can teach me as well as the teachers here. I prefer to stay here until I graduate Matthayom 6.

Ong, another Matthayom 4 student, was ambivalent about the new campus.

''I have no intention of moving there, but the sports complex sounds really appealing,'' he said. ''I hope we can benefit a lot from the mega-project once it's complete.''

WHERE'S THE MONEY?

Pae jia is a donation parents have to make, on top of tuition fees, for their child to be accepted by a school. The practice is widespread in Thailand, and accepted as a norm at the best and worst schools. It's also used as a backdoor method of screening ''appropriate'' students for high-end private schools.

''I think the pae jea system is important,'' says Mr Werachai. ''It's the best way to screen the quality of a student's background, the family's background and the parents' ability to invest in their children's future. The Pae jea we give to the school is used for extra activities that can ensure our children will get the best learning experience in return.''

But Mr Werachai said over the past nine years the additional money he has paid was wasted.

''My son didn't get to study in a good classroom environment,'' he said. ''The curricula and technology the school used were outdated. We sometimes had to pay extra money for competitions my son entered.

''The school is supposed to cover all those expenses. I know that Assumption College has earned a lot of pae jea money, probably more than a million baht each year, but I don't know where it's all gone.''

Those who joined the rally on Jan 25 to demand Br Anant stand down were not only teachers, parents and alumni. There was also a large group of people calling themselves the Save Assumption Group.

Tanasarn Phruethisathaphon, a former Assumption Colleges student, said he joined the rally on ''Black Friday'' in a bid to help the school regain its reputation.

Mr Tanasarn, who founded the Save Assumption Group with former students, said he did not believe Br Anant was a bad person. But he and many others believed Br Anant was taking the school in the wrong direction by moving away from the school's tradition of extracurricular activities.

Mr Tanasarn claimed Br Anant had caused similar disquiet among parents when he was in charge of Assumption's Thon Buri campus before he was sent to the US for further studies. On his return he was made director of Assumption College.

Mr Tanasarn said he was most displeased with Br Anant's plan to shift the EP students to the new campus.

''The way this school was established wasn't clear,'' he said ''The source of the money he used to build the new campus is a big mystery. No one could really confirm where that money came from.''

Mr Tanasarn says the protest on Jan 25 was instrumental in forcing Br Anant out of his position.

''After a couple of days, St Gabriel's Foundation ordered Br Anant to resign as director, and replaced him with Br Surasit Sukachai.

''We were happy about his resignation. Now our school can get back in the game and get back to be what we were before.''

Br Anant has denied in media reports that he was forced to resign.

ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS

Despite the dramas, new director Br Surasit was optimistic about the future direction of Assumption College.

He was quick to distance the academic side of the new campus from Assumption College in the city.

''Regarding the Assumption College Rama II campus, I would say that the foundation is still investing in it,'' he said. ''The school itself is not part of our Assumption College. They have their own director, they have their own teachers and they register under a different name from us. The Rama II campus is established as it own school. It has nothing to do with our school.''

However, Br Surasit said Assumption College would still be involved in financing and using the recreational facilities at the Rama II campus.

''Assumption College is only getting involved with the sports complex, as well as the scout camp and recreation area. We will spend our own money to complete the sports facility, so that our students can go there to play sport and practice.''

Br Surasit said Assumption College had already resolved the teachers' salary dispute.

''We have started with some teachers and we are going to be able to give everyone a raise very soon. This year, the salary base is equivalent to 13,350 baht and by January, 2014, all teachers with a bachelor's degree will receive 15,000 baht a month.''

And Br Surasit said plans to merge the primary and secondary schools had been dropped.

''We are not ready to do that,'' he said. ''We don't have enough space for everyone in the same area and there are many processes we have to go through if we want to merge the two schools. It may or may not happen in the future, but for now I can guarantee that it won't be happening.''

Br Surasit said his immediate priority was to restore Assumption College's traditional activities programmes.

''I want to restore Assumption College's reputation and get this school back in the Top 10 schools of Thailand,'' he said.

''Let's just forget about what has happened in the past and focus on what is happening today and what is going to be happening in the future.''

LOCATION IS EVERYTHING: Assumption College’s Bang Rak Campus, visible here from Charoen Krung Road, is located on some of the most valuable land in Bangkok.

WAY OUT THERE: The main building of Assumption College’s Rama II campus, where hundreds of English Programme students study.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (1)