Does anyone understand why Thai schools relentlessly hire and fire teachers each year? Why is teaching considered temp work when it is required all year around in an academic year?
I was sitting in the office one day and the loud speaker was blaring. They always broadcast the morning assembly. ''So students your old teachers have gone home now, lets make the new ones feel welcome!'' Or more accurately ''Khun kru tangchaat glab prateet laos. Kru glap baan laos na''. No it's not true. They didn't have their contracts renewed. They did not ''go home'' voluntarily. I even had one student ask me ''So teacher are you going home next year?'' It took me a while to figure out what she meant. They lie to the students every year. I had a message on line from a student asking ''Where are you!''. He was surprised I was still in Thailand.
As far as I can tell the scam works like this:
- school gets government subsidy money for the ''bidding process'' of new teachers.
- the money gets diverted to the hundreds of ''lieutenants'' ''officers'' ''vice'' ''assistant to the'' and so on
- the new teachers are hired for 11 months
- they do not have provide bonusses, file taxes or provide healthcare
- the teachers are removed and the contract is not renewed
- the process starts again
And then we have the teacher agencies which further the corruption. Shady companies that change their name every 12 months. They provide the teachers illegally since the teachers have no degrees and false passports stamps. The teachers are blackmailed into working for a low salary and the government subsidiary is split between the agency and the school.