The Education Ministry on Wednesday bowed to pressure from temporary employees of the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec), agreeing to employ them under an old hiring system widely seen to offer better remuneration and greater job security.
The decision came after talks involving senior officials following a protest by hundreds of employees outside the Education Ministry early this week. Prasert Boonruang, the ministry’s acting permanent secretary, took part in the talks along with acting Obec chief Amnat Wichayanuwat, and officials of the Budget Bureau and the Comptroller General’s Department.
The protest was sparked by a letter issued by Obec announcing the redesignation of temporary school administration staff as outsourced employees. The workers argued the change in the hiring system, which took effect on Oct 1, would affect their job security and other welfare benefits.
Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan said on Wednesday that 13,000 temporary employees of Obec would be hired under the old monthly contract system while new workers would be employed under the new hiring policy.
Mr Nataphol also said overdue payments to administrative teachers would be made by Oct 20 and assured the problem would not happen again.
Starting in the 2019 fiscal year, Obec decided to hire 15,000 administrative workers for state-run schools nationwide to free up teachers to concentrate on teaching.
