The Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) announced it has come across questionable budget spending in two projects by the Department of Local Administration (DLA).
In recent audits, the OAG found the projects have failed to satisfy objectives and that they could end up wasting taxpayers' money.
The OAG found problems in its recent audit of the 232.71-million-baht budget disbursed for the long distance learning project implemented between 2016 and 2017 by the DLA. The OAG also discovered another distance learning project being implemented by the DLA from last October until Sept 30, 2021 also faces a similar problem, according to Auditor-General Prajuck Boonyoung.
The implementation of the so-called Distance Learning Information Technology (DLIT) project of the DLA -- from Oct 1, 2016 until Sept 30, 2017 at 1,996 schools under the DLA's jurisdiction at a cost of 232.71 million baht -- did not fulfill the project's objectives, he said.
The project was intended as a mechanism to help improve the schools' capability and quality levels, he said. Under the project, the schools were supplied with distance learning equipment including notebook computers and LED TVs along with a set of distance learning software, he added.
"After receiving the equipment, these schools rarely use them to promote quality learning among their students as laid out in the project objectives," he said.
The equipment was underused because of the unstable internet connection at the schools. The school staff also lack knowledge on how to operate the equipment, he said. "The equipment has been left untouched for as long as 11 months," he said.
The OAG has suggested that the DLA consider ways to improve the utilisation of the equipment already procured in the projects.
