THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Education staff sinking in debt seek a lifeline

Education staff sinking  in debt seek a lifeline

DESPITE HIS Bt46,000 salary, each month 50-year-old schoolteacher Chai (not his real name) has only Bt3,000 left to cover personal expenses after all his debts are paid.

His Bt6.8-million debt is owed to five sources: a Bt3-million loan with the Government Savings Bank (GSB), a Bt3-million loan with the Teacher Savings Cooperative, a Bt400,000-loan from the Government Housing Bank, and a Bt400,000 loan from Krungthai Bank. 
He said the loans were to cover the cost of his own education, his children’s tuition fees and mortgage.
Chai has to borrow money from friends to survive, or if he is lucky he gets extra money from work.
He, therefore, welcomed the recent proposal by GSB for the Education Ministry to allow teachers and other education personnel to use Bt400,000 for debt repayment out of the Bt900,000 their families get when they die.
“I agree with such an idea being implemented, even though it would lift my financial situation only just a bit. But at least I could benefit from that money before I die,” he said. 
A 60-year-old retired teacher said her debt burden totalled Bt7.7 million and came from a Bt3-million loan with the Welfare Promotion Commission for Teachers and Education Personnel, a Bt1.7-million loan from GSB, a Bt1-million loan from Krungthai Bank, a Bt600,000-loan from the Teacher Savings Cooperative, and a Bt700,000-loan from the Government Housing Bank.
Despite receiving Bt30,000 a month, it is Bt20,000 less than what she needs. So she struggles doing business here and there to make ends meet. “I think it would be a great idea to implement such a proposal [Bt400,000] to help teachers like me, even though it would help just a bit,” she said.
The GSB made the proposal in a bid to reduce its risk of non-performing loans, according to Education Ministry permanent secretary Kamjorn Tatiyakavee. The proposed deduction would be part of the conditions of a loan application, said Kamjorn following Monday’s meeting with GSB president and chief executive Chatchai Payuhanaveechai.
Kamjorn revealed that some 5,000 teachers had so far registered for GSB’s debt-restructuring programme. There are 13,405 teachers and other education personnel in a “critical state” of debt with GSB after failing to pay debt instalments for three months in a row and were facing lawsuits. 
Some 7,000 debtors would face court soon if they continued to avoid contacting the bank, Kamjorn warned. 
It was reported that 460,000 teachers and other educational personnel have borrowed some Bt470 billion from GSB.
Kamjorn said the ministry would soon adjust the criteria of the Office of the Teacher Civil Service and Educational Personnel Commission’s revolving fund loans in an effort to solve teachers’ debt problems. 
He said the fund provided up to Bt200,000 per teacher for debt relief. The ministry will amend the criteria so applicants can borrow only from GSB for debt refinancing, he added. 
People working in the education sector reportedly have a combined debt of Bt1.2 trillion – Bt700 billion of which is owed to cooperatives and other sources.
In an attempt to solve this issue, Education Minister General Dapong Ratanasuwan last week ordered Kamjorn to find clearer details of the debt situation and separate teachers from other education personnel debtors because the aid provided would be different for each groups.
Dapong also told Kamjorn to speak to the GSB and the Teacher Savings Cooperatives to discuss the criteria for loans and possible solutions.
 
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