Officials told to repay student loans
The Education Ministry has begun to pressure about 20,000 staff who have failed to repay student loans to take part in a debt-reduction scheme. Permanent-secretary Kamchorn Tatiyakawee said the move wasintended as a publicity measure to turn the staff into responsible borrowers. “All borrowers are duty bound to repay their debts," Mr Kamchorn said. "As they are government officers, they should be financially disciplined.” The ministry has made an agreement with the Student Loan Fund to persuade staff who borrowed from the government’s low-interest student loan scheme to sign up to an automatic
monthly repayment plan. More than 62,000 ministry staff still have outstanding student loans. Two-thirds of them make payments on time, but one-third — about 20,000 — are having problems.
Staff with problems will not be forced to accept monthly deductions from their salaries, Mr Kamchorn said. Payments will be made voluntarily and those who enrol will not receive any special privileges. SLF
manager Thitima Vichairat said the fund was trying to work with government departments and private companies to encourage employees to pay off debts. The SLF earlier signed an agreement with Naresuan University and Bathroom Design Co to help staff pay off outstanding loans and it had proved successful, she said. The SLF will expand the plan to help others. Ms Thitima said debts needed to be repaid so that the next generation of students can enjoy the same help. Last year, SLF’s overdue debts stood at 38 billion baht, or 53% of the 72 billion baht in loans granted to more than four million students since 1996.