Students warned of a testing scam

"No one can do such a thing," Deputy Education Minister Chaiwuti Bannawat said yesterday, "Students and parents should not believe such an offer is possible".

PAT/GAT scores are main criteria in universityadmission system.

Some students said they surprisingly received calls from someone who claimed he or she could boost their GAT/PAT scores.

The students said the caller had the information they submitted for GAT/PAT.

Chaiwuti explained that the website of the National Institute of Educational Testing Service (NIETS) had recently been hacked.

In addition, he said some students posted their own information on some other websites too.

"I don't think that NIETS officials are involved," Chaiwuti said.

He added that an investigation into the attack on the NIETS website was ongoing.

"I am informed that there are both adults and children behind the attack. Arrests will be made pretty soon," the deputy education minister said.

Because of the hacking, a special round of GAT/PAT is now being held under a Bt2.5million budget. It will run until tomorrow.

Chaiwuti said that NIETS had now invited lecturers from universities across the country to design questions for the next round of GAT/PAT.

"The process of designing test questions should be completed next month," he added.