Thousands of retired teachers to be rehired

[webfact]

Thousands of retired teachers to be rehired

By The Nation

 

File photo : Boonrux

 

THE OFFICE of Basic Education Commission (Obec) has prepared a new six-month employment contract for 5,200 teachers who officially retired at the end of last month.

 

“They will continue teaching at their schools until the end of the 2017 academic year, or in other words for six more months,” Obec secretary general Boonrux Yodpheth said yesterday. 

 

He said the re-employment of retiring teachers was aimed at easing a shortage during the upcoming re-allocation of staff. 

 

Up to 19,962 teachers at 11,326 schools across the country reached their mandatory retirement age on September 30. 

 

“We will fill all vacancies vacated by retirees. We have already got the approval to do so. But it will take time to find replacements,” Boonrux said. 

 

Various projects are already in place to fill the vacancies. For example, the local-development teacher project will choose 4,830 new teachers, he added. 

 

“We can assure you that there will be adequate teachers for students when the second semester begins on November 1,” Boonrux said. 

 

Earlier, Preecha Tunapong, director of Pracha Samakkee School in Phitsanulok province, revealed on social media that he was the only teacher left following the retirement of four colleagues. 

 

“It will take about two months to find replacements. So in the meantime, I would like to call on qualified volunteers to come forward and help conduct classes for children,” he said. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30328385

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-10-04

[Bob12345]

Quote

“It will take about two months to find replacements. So in the meantime, I would like to call on qualified volunteers to come forward and help conduct classes for children,” he said. 

Sounds like a quality education in the making.

 

Maybe they should already crunch the numbers for next year also, as you can calculate years ahead how many positions there will be and how many people will retire. Then they can maybe work a bit proactive and not be surprised at the last moment. Its called "planning".

[yellowboat]

Education in Thailand looks chaotic.  Why allow teachers to retire when they are still productive ?  Why not encourage them to stay ? 

[impulse]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Up to 19,962 teachers at 11,326 schools across the country reached their mandatory retirement age on September 30. 

 

My goodness, that's a lot of teachers born on that day in 1957.

 

Must have been one hell of a New Years Eve Party that year...  Come to think of it, that was 2500 on the Thai calendar, so it may have been.  Or maybe the condom factory went on holiday that month?

 

[eliotness]

What about all the teachers from the Phillipines that seem to be in nearly every school and they're cheap. Surely any retired teacher would want to come back on no less than their old salary.  Still might give "too old" farangs a chance !!!!!

[shanesox]

The teaching profession is not given the  stature and  financial rewards for young graduates to enter into. Massive long term issue for Thailand and its future. This six month idea tinkering around the edges of a bigger problem!

[DavisH]

14 hours ago, shanesox said:

The teaching profession is not given the  stature and  financial rewards for young graduates to enter into. Massive long term issue for Thailand and its future. This six month idea tinkering around the edges of a bigger problem!

I've taught 17 years here as a school teacher. I only know one graduate from my EP that became a teacher. He was luk kreung too! I guess it's too much work for too little remuneration. 

[MartinL]

My wife was asked to to return temporarily when she retired last year. 

 

They offered a salary of about 15,000 ฿ per month, doing the same hours as she'd done previously, in addition to the pension which she was entitled to after 40 years as a government teacher. She wasn't too keen - she'd had enough after 40 years - but we talked about it. She asked why, when she'd been getting x0,000 ฿ per month, they thought she'd be willing to do exactly the same job for a fraction of the pay. 

 

Happily enjoying her retirement now. 

[shanesox]

The pathetic education system is still in the 20th century


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[jenny2017]

On 10/4/2017 at 9:31 AM, eliotness said:

What about all the teachers from the Phillipines that seem to be in nearly every school and they're cheap. Surely any retired teacher would want to come back on no less than their old salary.  Still might give "too old" farangs a chance !!!!!

Please beg my pardon, sir. Where did you read that they were talking about English teachers? I hope that I do not see a different post?

 

  Have you ever seen Filipinos, or NES people teaching Thai, science, and other subjects in Thai at a Thai school?

 

 By the way, there are so many crappy white teachers who've got no idea about teaching, that I'd prefer a well educated Filipino over a TEFL educated, or less, white foreigner.

 

  The command in a language alone doesn't create teachers. There's more behind the curtain. And criticising a whole nation, isn't very wise. It's not about the skin colour alone.

 

 

 

[jenny2017]

On 10/5/2017 at 12:47 PM, DavisH said:

I've taught 17 years here as a school teacher. I only know one graduate from my EP that became a teacher. He was luk kreung too! I guess it's too much work for too little remuneration. 

 

 Two Thai ex- colleagues of mine, one was 51, the other one 43, had a salary between 54 and 64,000 baht/ month.

 

Healthcare for the whole family for free, including first class treatment at hospitals, without waiting in line. 

 

 Plus a few million baht credit at the Thai teachers' banks in each province to buy land and houses for almost no interest and some other "goodies."

 

The income of some rentals basically pays back the loan within a forseeable time. 

 

Common practise is that these teachers will be given some great positions, be it the head teacher, or anything else, to ensure a good retirement. 

 

  Have you ever seen the income, or the tax declaration of a Thai colleague at a government school with the right status, on step III of the pay scale?

 

I did and I was really surprised. 

Edited October 7, 2017 by jenny2017

[MartinL]

^^^^^

Good post Jenny.

 

I'm constantly amazed at people on TV saying "Teachers are poorly paid". Maybe that's true at the start of their - or any - career but it's not as the career progresses.

 

My wife taught at a small Isaan country school. Access to salary sheets was easy a few years ago and I calculated that the AVERAGE salary for all teachers was about 40,000, the lowest above 25,000 and my wife's the highest at 78,000, including qualification bonuses. Age ranges; about 25 > 60. On top of that, there are the perks you mentioned. My wife now has a pension for life of 50% of her final salary which is about 150% of a UK maximum state pension - not to be sneezed at! 

 

Unlike DavisH's experience, to which you replied, mine is that about 25% of the youngsters I know through my wife want to be teachers (OK, I've never been a teacher so perhaps I get a distorted view). Maybe they don't make the grade, I don't know, but the desire to be a teacher is there, maybe suggesting teaching isn't such a bad career after all.

 

 

Edited October 7, 2017 by MartinL

[jenny2017]

24 minutes ago, MartinL said:

^^^^^

Good post Jenny.

 

I'm constantly amazed at people on TV saying "Teachers are poorly paid". Maybe that's true at the start of their - or any - career but it's not as the career progresses.

 

My wife taught at a small Isaan country school. Access to salary sheets was easy a few years ago and I calculated that the AVERAGE salary for all teachers was about 40,000, the lowest above 25,000 and my wife's the highest at 78,000, including qualification bonuses. Age ranges; about 25 > 60. On top of that, there are the perks you mentioned. My wife now has a pension for life of 50% of her final salary which is about 150% of a UK maximum state pension - not to be sneezed at! 

 

Unlike DavisH's experience, to which you replied, mine is that about 25% of the youngsters I know through my wife want to be teachers (OK, I've never been a teacher so perhaps I get a distorted view). Maybe they don't make the grade, I don't know, but the desire to be a teacher is there, maybe suggesting teaching isn't such a bad career after all.

 

 

 

 Thank you very much for the great words. Thai government school teachers, who're working for the government, have to pass three steps, which is also their rank. ( Well, they do look like soldiers in their neat uniforms, don't they?)

 

Once they've passed the third step, always with their fancy evaluation boards, books, and other fancy stuff, and then given the head teacher position short before the age of 60, they're well off. 

 

Of course can you find teachers who failed the test for the teacher's license ten times, but they can redo the test again and again, and one day, they'll pass. 

 

 The payscales at private schools and universities, I mean these obligatory Rajabhat ones, for the poor(er) folks are a little bit different.

 

  But that's also changing once a Thai graduates with a PhD at a foreign university in "more civilised countries". But these teachers are usually "stolen" from companies that do not have to care about money at all. 

 

  That's pretty much similar to our systems, in the so called civilised and modern, first, or is it the second world, that you've got to study and basically never stop doing so, to make a good living? 

 

  But I'm not even trying to come up with an exemple of "our systems", for example in the so well developed? United States, all states have their own and partly really sick curriculum, where some teachers don't get paid well, work too many hours, etc..

 

  A degree from university A could be much worse than one from university B in another sate, and so on. Education isn't America's masterpiece at all. Of course are there brilliant institutions, but not too many of the ordinary folks are financially able to study there.

 

  To get back on topic now, it doesn't make much sense to recall those who've just said goodbye to all the tricky things they had to live and work with. One of them, a good longtime friend of mine over a decade, was too happy that she actually retired, to go back and continue things she's not really okay with.

 

  I guess that some of them will just meet a good friend in form of a doctor who'll be more than happy to write a note that Khun Kru Somchai's health went down the hill from all the hard work they had to put up with. And I hope that my friend will stay at home.