I work in a private school as a teacher and my child started Prathom 1 this year. I read that all teachers can get free schooling for their kids but my boss is making me pay 50% of the fees(200,000 baht a year), a lot for an ESL teacher.

I read that ส.พ.ฐ have said that all teachers have the right to free schooling. I am not sure if this applies to foreigners.

 

Do any other teachers here have to pay for their kids , or does anyone know if I am being shafted(which I think is the case)?

Edited June 27, 20197 yr by PiBret

When I worked at a school i was offered "special rates" for my son. I cant speak for any of the other teacher's children. i told them that there was no way I'd have my son educated in their school and that was just about the end of my time there. Not sure why I said that now.

It depends on the school. Some give free education, some give a discount, and one I'm aware of you have to pay full for 3 years, then a reduction after that. This applies to private schools. I have no idea about public schools. 

I have heard generally private Thai schools will never offer free education to foreign staff, whereas international schools pretty much guarantee it.

 

I wouldn't live or work here if education wasn't free for us in my contract. 

Most Ep Bilingual in Bangkok offers a 50% off and some in Rayong offer free. However most private schools like intensive programs and general programs do not give these benefits. Satit and other demonstration schools offer a "seat" because the positions are competitive and thats all. Some Satit International programs offer free tuition, general program is similar with 50% off. My knowledge is from Bangkok/CM and Rayong areas only.

The private schools I work with give a discount for teachers' children.   I believe the first 3 years a teacher is employed there is no discount and after someone has been employed for 3 years, then there is a discount.   I don't remember the exact amount, but I know teachers who started working but left their children in another school until they were eligible for the discount.  

 

IMO, it shows how much foreigners are liked. I doubt that a Thai teacher's child would pay as much as you do. 

 

  A friend who had his daughter in an EP of a government primary school had to pay the full amount for his daughter's tuition up to grade six. 

 

   

 

   

From what I gather Thai teachers certainly benefit more than foreign teachers in private schools.

 

 

8 hours ago, stament said:

From what I gather Thai teachers certainly benefit more than foreign teachers in private schools.

 

 

How is that? Foreign teachers salaries can be 2x to 4x that of Thai teachers in private schools. Thai teachers may get some other benefits but I don't think it would make up the salary difference - they also get loaded with useless paperwork or other duties we don't have to do. They pay the same rate for their kids to attend my school as do the kids of foreign teachers. 

At my school the tuition fees are waived, but I have to pay for other things such as food, resources and so on, which I think is fair enough but it's still not cheap! 

On 7/18/2019 at 4:37 AM, DavisH said:

How is that? Foreign teachers salaries can be 2x to 4x that of Thai teachers in private schools. Thai teachers may get some other benefits but I don't think it would make up the salary difference - they also get loaded with useless paperwork or other duties we don't have to do. They pay the same rate for their kids to attend my school as do the kids of foreign teachers. 

Because at a kids school I know of one Thai person with 2 kids and they can't afford to pay even 1/5 of the school fees. They have 2 kids going there. Not saying this is the norm but how else do you expect them to attract staff. Don't forget hardly any additional cost to a school in tuition fee terms unless they have to employ additional teachers to cover this benefit....

Remember that the Social Security pay for many school related things like discount for books, uniforms etc