May 29th, 2006, 12:57
In a recent thread someone asked whether it was in (the WesternerтАЩs) better interest for Thailand to have a weak economy and a weak baht. I answered that we Westerners need do nothing тАУ the Thais will do it all for (to) themselves. One of the agreed limits to economic growth worldwide is an educated workforce. The Thai elite will continue to send their kids abroad for education. HereтАЩs todayтАЩs front page story from the Bangkok Post:
Staff crisis hangs over govt schools
Retiring teachers not being replaced in time by SIRIKUL BUNNAG
State schools will completely run out of experienced, qualified teachers within 10 years and their students will have to endure less-experienced staff and computer instruction, a senior educator has warned. Skilled, experienced teachers were retiring from the profession and the government's workforce reduction policy meant the Education Ministry could not train enough replacements, Pornnipa Limpaphayom, secretary-general of the Office of the Basic Education Commission (BEC), said yesterday.
The BEC's policy and planning division had surveyed the ages of teachers at state primary and secondary schools nationwide. The findings pointed to a gloomy future in which all state-run primary and secondary schools would be without any really experienced teachers in 10 years.
Of 374,925 teachers in state schools, about 200,000 are aged 46-55 and approaching retirement or early retirement. The lion's share, or 126,197, of this group were aged 46-50 and comprised 34% of all teachers in state schools. The 51-55 age group numbered 80,946 (22%) and the age 41-45 skilled group totalled 72,027 (19%). There are about 60,000 teachers aged 31-40 and the rest are 20-30.
"This is a looming danger for the nation. It means children in the future will suffer from poor education," Mrs Pornnipa said. "Thai children will study with computers and inexperienced teachers who do not understand child psychology and who lack teaching experience in general. This is especially serious for the pupils, because children need real teachers, not technology, to train and take care of them."
Mrs Pornnipa said it was impossible to produce enough skilled teachers in time to replace those retiring because the government is reducing its workforce. Even if the workforce restrictions were lifted now, the ministry could not produce enough teachers to avoid the crisis. The national education system suffered considerably from the workforce restriction policy, because the government replaces only 20% of all positions lost through retirement every year. This had resulted in the severe shortage of state teachers.
According to the Education Council, primary and secondary schools are now short of 99,570 teachers, and 21,784 schools do have not sufficient teachers. To cope, the BEC is merging small schools with large ones, making nearby schools share teachers, introducing remote teaching for those needy schools and reinstating teachers who had transferred to other agencies. However, the measures did not address the shortage. State schools still needed about 50,000 more teachers.
"The problem of experienced teachers disappearing has already happened in state universities and the government solved the problem by allocating budgets equal to the earnings of retired teachers, but it does not return their positions," Mrs Pornnipa said. Universities spend the money on hiring retired teachers to resume their duties on a yearly basis. The government should think carefully if it really wants to let basic education suffer from a lack of teachers, who are needed for the continued development of our children," she said. "Should schools spend the money that could otherwise be invested in child development on hiring temporary staff to teach in place of teachers?"
She is reporting the problem to the Education Council and the government, and asking for an immediate solution. According to the Education Council, from 2000 to 2005, a total of 62,229 teachers retired or took early retirement. The government returned only 18,060 positions for employment. Thai teachers work 28-33 classroom hours per week, while their counterparts overseas work about 20 hours a week. Thai primary school teachers work an average of 4.8 hours a day, compared with 3.4 hours in Japan and 4.4 hours in South Korea. Thai secondary school teachers work 5.89 hours a day, and Japanese and South Koreans about three hours. There is a teacher shortage in 21,784 schools, which need another 99,570 teachers. There are 5,165 schools with an excess of teachers _ 10,280 teachers above their needs while there are 4,835 schools with adequate teaching staff.
Staff crisis hangs over govt schools
Retiring teachers not being replaced in time by SIRIKUL BUNNAG
State schools will completely run out of experienced, qualified teachers within 10 years and their students will have to endure less-experienced staff and computer instruction, a senior educator has warned. Skilled, experienced teachers were retiring from the profession and the government's workforce reduction policy meant the Education Ministry could not train enough replacements, Pornnipa Limpaphayom, secretary-general of the Office of the Basic Education Commission (BEC), said yesterday.
The BEC's policy and planning division had surveyed the ages of teachers at state primary and secondary schools nationwide. The findings pointed to a gloomy future in which all state-run primary and secondary schools would be without any really experienced teachers in 10 years.
Of 374,925 teachers in state schools, about 200,000 are aged 46-55 and approaching retirement or early retirement. The lion's share, or 126,197, of this group were aged 46-50 and comprised 34% of all teachers in state schools. The 51-55 age group numbered 80,946 (22%) and the age 41-45 skilled group totalled 72,027 (19%). There are about 60,000 teachers aged 31-40 and the rest are 20-30.
"This is a looming danger for the nation. It means children in the future will suffer from poor education," Mrs Pornnipa said. "Thai children will study with computers and inexperienced teachers who do not understand child psychology and who lack teaching experience in general. This is especially serious for the pupils, because children need real teachers, not technology, to train and take care of them."
Mrs Pornnipa said it was impossible to produce enough skilled teachers in time to replace those retiring because the government is reducing its workforce. Even if the workforce restrictions were lifted now, the ministry could not produce enough teachers to avoid the crisis. The national education system suffered considerably from the workforce restriction policy, because the government replaces only 20% of all positions lost through retirement every year. This had resulted in the severe shortage of state teachers.
According to the Education Council, primary and secondary schools are now short of 99,570 teachers, and 21,784 schools do have not sufficient teachers. To cope, the BEC is merging small schools with large ones, making nearby schools share teachers, introducing remote teaching for those needy schools and reinstating teachers who had transferred to other agencies. However, the measures did not address the shortage. State schools still needed about 50,000 more teachers.
"The problem of experienced teachers disappearing has already happened in state universities and the government solved the problem by allocating budgets equal to the earnings of retired teachers, but it does not return their positions," Mrs Pornnipa said. Universities spend the money on hiring retired teachers to resume their duties on a yearly basis. The government should think carefully if it really wants to let basic education suffer from a lack of teachers, who are needed for the continued development of our children," she said. "Should schools spend the money that could otherwise be invested in child development on hiring temporary staff to teach in place of teachers?"
She is reporting the problem to the Education Council and the government, and asking for an immediate solution. According to the Education Council, from 2000 to 2005, a total of 62,229 teachers retired or took early retirement. The government returned only 18,060 positions for employment. Thai teachers work 28-33 classroom hours per week, while their counterparts overseas work about 20 hours a week. Thai primary school teachers work an average of 4.8 hours a day, compared with 3.4 hours in Japan and 4.4 hours in South Korea. Thai secondary school teachers work 5.89 hours a day, and Japanese and South Koreans about three hours. There is a teacher shortage in 21,784 schools, which need another 99,570 teachers. There are 5,165 schools with an excess of teachers _ 10,280 teachers above their needs while there are 4,835 schools with adequate teaching staff.