New English Teachers For Thailand

Another idiotic story in The Nation today.  This one is about the Office of Basic Education Commission (OBEC) and their plan to hire new English speaking teachers.  I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or do both.

Thailand Education English Teachers

Thailand Education English Teachers

Here is the article on the new English Teachers in its entirety from The Nation.

Plan to hire native English-speaking teachers

The Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) will seek a Bt350million budget to hire 300 native English-speaking teachers for its primary and secondary schools to tackle the shortage of English teachers, a senior official said yesterday.
According to the proposal, the native speakers would each get about Bt1 million per year – a salary of Bt83,000 per month – compared to the Bt9,000 per month drawn by Thais teaching English.
Obec chief Chinaphat Phumirat said the foreign teachers would be from the United States, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, India and the Philippines.

There are so many things wrong with this article.

First off, it states that OBEC will be hiring “Native English speakers”.  But, they plan to hire from India and the Philippines.

Second, they state that they will hire teachers from England.  Guess that leaves out those from Ireland and Scotland.

Third, they state that they will pay 83,000 Thai baht per month.  This is a bold faced lie.

English speaking teachers, with degrees and TEFL or TESOL certifications currently earn between 15,000 and 40,000 baht per month now depending on the teacher’s nationality, qualifications, and length of service.  Filipinos get paid a lot less than those from the UK or the USA.

So, the brilliant plan is to hire new teachers and pay them 2 to 3 times as much as the current teachers are now receiving.  What a crock of shit.

There is no way that a brand spanking new teacher is going to get that much in salary.  What will happen is the school will be allocated the one million baht per year per teacher and then they will hire them at the same salary that the current teachers receive and pocket the rest.  Very lucrative deal for the school’s headmaster.

And, hiring 300 teachers is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount that is really needed.

This is another case of throwing dollars at a solution instead of fixing the real problem(s). The real problem is that the current Thai teachers of English are not qualified.  And some foreign teachers that have been hired are also not qualified.  Just because one has a degree in something, doesn’t mean one can teach.  And, it is common knowledge that the education staff in Thailand can just buy their way to a certification.

This is not just a problem with English teachers. It is across the board.  Most teachers in Thailand cannot do what they are paid to taught.  And, the population of Thailand suffers.

Toss into the mix, that the Thai education system is basically “Spray and Pray”.  Teachers read and maybe some students listen.  Whatever is absorbed is spit out on a test and immediately forgotten.  No critical thinking.  Just learn it for the test.

Hiring a couple hundred “Native Speaking English” teachers is not the solution.  Lining the pockets of the Big Boss at the school is not a solution either.

The entire school system needs to be completely overhauled.  Buying your way in to get your 5-year into a premier school, paying someone to take your exams, or hiring incompetent teachers, is no way to run an education system.

Since the school system is run by the Thai Government, it is corrupt.  As, corrupt, if not more, than all the other Thai Government offices.  And, this piss-poor system will continue as long as Thailand has corrupt officials.

It has a snowball effect.  The parents become corrupt and do anything to get their child into a so-called “good school” and the students see that corruption is the easy path to success.  Why study or attend school when I can pay someone to give me a piece of paper that said I am a graduate.

If Thailand ever wants to remove the “Third World” label from its name, it must get rid of corruption and find real solutions to problems.

In the meantime, I will just laugh and cry about the English Teachers in Thailand.

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