Various authorities yesterday expressed concern that John Mark Karr - a suspect in the 1996 murder of an American child beauty queen - had managed to find teaching jobs in Bangkok.

At the time of his arrest on Wednesday, he had just been given employment by an international school in the Sathorn district.

Before that he was allowed a trial period at two of the country's most prestigious schools - the boys-only Bangkok Christian College and the girls-only St Joseph Convent School.

The Education Ministry's permanent secretary Khunying Kasama Varawarn na Ayutthaya yesterday said she would have a meeting with the International Schools Association of Thailand next week to tighten recruitment of foreign teachers.

She admitted that the ministry had allowed international schools to recruit teachers before an entire check of their qualifications had been completed.

"We relaxed the rules after many international schools complained that the whole process took too long," Kasama said.

She said the Office of Private Education Promotion Commission did general checks on whether applicants have the educational credentials that match the requirements. "The office has contacted foreign universities to verify overseas degrees submitted by applicants."

The office has also cooperated with special-branch police and the National Intelligence Agency to check the history of applicants.

"Normally we receive a response from the special-branch police within three weeks but the overseas institutions have taken longer to respond. When international schools started complaining, we relaxed the rule. Recruitment can be completed first, and if there is any problem we can take action later," Kasama said.

So far, she said, there had never been any problems.

"Generally, persons with criminal records won't be able to pass through immigration checkpoints," she said, but in the wake of Karr's arrest, Kasama planned to ask international schools not to hire any foreign teachers before their qualifications check had been completed.

Anusorn Thaidecha, who heads the Office of Private Education Promotion Commission, added that he would ask immigration police and the Foreign Affairs Ministry to be stricter about granting entries or visas to foreigners.

PM's deputy secretary general Jakrapob Penkair, who is assigned to oversee education matters, said there had in the past been many sexual-abuse accusations against teachers at some international schools.

"They have sex with minors - girls and boys - and they have been arrested," Jakrapob said.

He said all parties must join in preventing undesirable foreigners from getting close to students in Thailand. He added that he was going to raise the issue with the Education Ministry, teacher organisations, parents and international schools.

In a related development, caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said there were relatively few cases of crimes committed by foreigners in Thailand, given the fact that up to 12 million foreign visitors flocked to the country each year. He added that Thai authorities had worked closely with other countries in watching out for people who had been blacklisted.