Cheating alleged in OrBorJor exams

PHUKET: Seven people are under investigation for allegedly using high technology to cheat in an examination to select officials to work for the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor).

The OrBorJor announced last October that it was seeking to fill eight clerical posts. Some 2,000 people applied, and examinations took place on Saturday at Phuket Wittayalai School in two sessions – with half the applicants being examined in the morning and the other half in the afternoon.

During the midday break, one candidate called the OrBorJor to report a possible case of cheating. As a result of this information, OrBorJor staff monitored a silver-bronze Honda Jazz car with black windows and Bangkok license plates which was being driven to and fro between the two buildings in which the examinations were being held. There were three people inside the car.

The staff, after ascertaining that the behavior of the three was suspicious, reported their observations to OrBorJor Chief Administrative Officer Ayuth Bangluang, and the police were called.

In the car, police found the three people – who had taken the examination in the morning – along with six mobile phones, a wireless computer keyboard with a mobile phone link, and a list of names that included those of four people taking the exam in the afternoon.

Precisely how the alleged cheating was carried out was not made clear, but OrBorJor Vice-President Sutin Uthaitamrong said, “If the investigation shows that the seven were involved in cheating, we will mark them all as having failed, but otherwise the results of the examination will stand. We will not be holding them again.”

He added that the names of those under suspicion would not be released for the time being.

Pol Col Chalit Tinthanee, Deputy Commander of Phuket Provincial Police said, “This is first case we have have come across in Phuket of cheating in examinations for government posts.”

All the evidence seized by the police has been passed to the Office of Forensic Science in Bangkok for closer examination.