Bangkok: The Teachers' Council of Thailand's Trading Organization signed printing contracts with 5 private companies, who also signed a 'Code of Ethics Agreement,' confident that printing will be completed before the start of the school term.
According to Thai News Agency, the Teachers' Welfare and Provident Fund (SKSC) has signed contracts with five private companies to print textbooks, along with a "Code of Conduct Agreement," following praise for saving over 255 million baht and ensuring a transparent and verifiable process. Chonnikarn expressed confidence that everything is proceeding according to plan, with textbooks to be completed before the start of the school year. The ceremony marked the signing of contracts for the printing of 150 textbook titles for the 2026 academic year. The five winning bidders are: 1. Physics Center Limited Partnership, 2. Rungsilp Printing (1977) Co., Ltd., 3. Wannachart Press Co., Ltd., 4. Siam Press Co., Ltd., and 5. Udomsuksa Co., Ltd. SKSC Secretary-General, Mr. Peerapan Hemarat, assigned Deputy Secretary-General Mr. Disakul Kasemsawat to preside over the signing ceremony. And the signing of an Integrity Pact between the winning bidder, observers, and the SKSK (Office of the National Education Commission) trad ing organization to ensure that the project is conducted transparently and is verifiable.
Ms. Chonnikarn Suebchana, Deputy Secretary-General of the Teachers' Council of Thailand (TCT), in her capacity as Chair of the Terms of Reference (TOR) Drafting Committee and Chair of the Electronic Bidding (E-Bidding) Evaluation Committee for the project, revealed that participation in the integrity agreement with the Comptroller General's Department, Ministry of Finance, and the Anti-Corruption Organization (Thailand) (ACT) aims to oversee and monitor operations to ensure compliance with regulations, laws, good governance principles, transparency, and accountability. This encompasses everything from TOR preparation and setting of median prices to the E-Bidding process, which includes observers at every stage. This results in open competition, allowing contractors to submit bids reflecting true costs, and enabling the TCT to procure goods at fair prices. This year, the total value of bids reached approximately 754.3 million baht, lower than the allocated budget of 1,010 million baht, or more than 25%. 'The b idding results, which were below the budget and median price, saved the TCT a total of 255,637,700 baht, or 25.31% of the project's allocated budget of 1,010 million baht. Furthermore, it ensured that all processes ran smoothly and according to the planned schedule.'
Following the signing of the contracts, the five contractors were able to immediately begin the production process. Subsequent steps will involve observers monitoring and providing guidance until the textbooks are delivered to educational institutions nationwide. On the same day, Mr. Suchart Kladsuk, Deputy Secretary-General of the Teachers' Council of Thailand and Chairman of the Procurement Acceptance Committee, held a contract management meeting with all five contractors. All contractors understood the details of the integrity agreement that closely monitors the production process and were ready to cooperate. Therefore, it is believed that the printing of textbooks will be completed on schedule and delivered to educational institutions or distributors without any concerns. 'Everything remains on schedule, and we are confident that we will be able to deliver textbooks to educational institutions nationwide as planned, before the start of the 2026 academic year, without affecting teaching and learning.'