More private schools in Thailand to close due to pandemic related cashflow problems

[mrwebb8825]

On 10/22/2021 at 4:46 PM, snoop1130 said:

The latest, after more than 80 years in operation, is the well known Amnuaysilpa Thonburi School in Bangkok, citing cash flow problem.

 

On 10/22/2021 at 9:18 PM, MarcelV said:

I teach at a very prestigious private school and we have been having online classes since May. I'm not worried about the school closing down for good. The school has been in business too long to forfeit. The fallout would be unthinkable.

Yes, I'm sure they would never inconvenience you in this way. ????

[thaiclan]

21 hours ago, arick said:

I am tutoring a girl Phyics IGCSE she had no clue of even what  exam board she was taking at her school! This school is charging 900,000 a year  tuition. 

In fairness there are several exam boards offering GCSE's (and iGCSE's).  I remember taking my GCSE's and I had no idea of which exam board my UK school was using - I just knew I had to do the subject for the GCSE. 
My daughter recently did her iGCSE's and she only knew which exam board they were because she is a homerschooler and took them at the British Council in Bangkok. She took 11 iGCSE's and that involved 3 different exam boards. 

[thaiclan]

17 hours ago, RafPinto said:

Wrong.

At my daughter's school, there are plenty of Hi-So Thai children who stay until finishing their IGCSE or IB before going abroad to study.

True. The international schools are all at least 40% full Thai, followed by the half-Thais and then foreigners.

 

Back when the baht was extremely low, many wealthy Thai families sent their children to boarding school abroad. When the baht crashed (and never returned to it's glory days) many Thai's returned and the expansion of international schools proliferated.  Now Thai students make up the majority of international school attendance here.

 

The international schools here are often more expensive than a private school back in the UK. It has never made any sense to me. The cost of running a school campus in a country with high wages like the UK - even for the auxiliary staff, plus all their employment benefits (maternity, sick, pension, overtime) still allows them to have lower school fees than the international schools here which use cheap local labour for the grounds, kitchen, drivers, teaching assistants, back office staff etc.

Many schools here are around the 300k baht per term mark (3 terms per year).  That price bracket in the UK would get you into a higher than average private school (average term fee for UK private school is 200k baht per term -of course you can pay much more or far less).

Either the schools here are running at a far higher profit-margin, or the Ministry takes a big cut for the 'international' licensing....or maybe I'm missing something else entirely.

 

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by thaiclan

[scorecard]

On 10/22/2021 at 9:47 PM, RafPinto said:

How much do they charge at those "private" school.

Is it a Thai school under the "private" school umbrella or a real "International School".

 

I know how much we pay in fees for the private school. Not cheap.

There's a whole range of schools under the labels of 'Private Schools'. Some extremely expensive some charge very reasonable fees. 

 

Some are extremely expensive because they employ the best teachers globally and provide up to date best technology and other teaching resources and best proven pedagogy.

 

Others are extremely expensive because they are simply money machines, no hesitation to charge expensive fees and no hesitation to provide very little for the money.

 

Needs lots of checking and research to find what you want for your kids at a reasonable price. 

 

 

However results are a very mixed bag, 

[scorecard]

22 hours ago, arick said:

The UK must be very unfair then 

So putting the question to you; is the UK a fair and socially equal egalitarian society with equal opportunity for all? 

[Sydebolle]

If the successive governments of Thailand wold not do everything possible to prevent education, it certainly would look different and rosier. 
 

Uneducated kids leave the system after 15 years of schooling, no languages knowledge, humanities shortcut on the cooked-up history of Thailand and complete absence of common sense. Well, ideal material for a future electorate to carry on getting voted into office with little pictures and cash attached to it. 

If the education system would be more like, i.e. central Europe, there would be hardly and international schools as the latter bridge a temporary absence from a home-country education (mostly language related).  Good public schools are free of charge (Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia), of high quality and the result is a work force second to none. 

So, if you want to avoid all those asiannamed private schools with some more, some less quality going on in their class rooms, then initiate a long, long overdue revamp of the semi-divine industry of Thai education. Results are seen in 1 ½ to 2 generations only which might be too late already for Thailand. This would also solve the imminent disaster of and in the international schooling sector. 

[spidermike007]

On 10/22/2021 at 9:18 PM, MarcelV said:

I teach at a very prestigious private school and we have been having online classes since May. I'm not worried about the school closing down for good. The school has been in business too long to forfeit. The fallout would be unthinkable.

The fallout from the highly selective shutdowns, is unthinkable. Millions are out of work now. Unemployment is likely 35% nationwide. The economy is contracting at a historic pace, and they will lie about that too. Tourism is permanently wounded, and will take many years to recover, and only then 10 years from now, will attract 20% of the former levels of arrivals. Perhaps that is a good thing for some, but it means millions of jobs lost, long term. This is a 7 year recovery. 

[Mike KIWI]

15 hours ago, DavisH said:

Has she been learning online with the school since it closed? It so, that is the normal operation of schools during the pandemic. The refunds at my school have been minimal - they kids are mainly missing out on activities and formal assessment as they cannot attend school.  

Yes they have been doing some sort of home learning but I havent seen what it is as I got stuck in NZ. I get out of quarantine in a couple days to see whats been going on.

[khunpa]

The private schools problems are due to greed and the inability to downsize and adapt financially to the pandemic situation.

 

My sons private school provided awful online classes and demanded full payment. They even had us pay for summer school upfront, then canceled and did not refund. 
 

When you provide less service and expect the same payment, parents will of course unregister their kids.

 

Other private schools have been smart, by lowering their costs and providing fair discounts to the parents. 
 

I do not feel sorry for any of the closed schools. They were simply just too greedy.

 

 

 

 

[Jai Dee]

A couple of off-topic posts have been removed.

[Bluetongue]

On 10/22/2021 at 8:06 PM, sherwood said:

By the look of things my daughter is learning all she needs to know about living in Thailand under this sham of an administration.

Is the older buffalo holding the camera?

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

I once taught at a “prestigious” BKK private school with a famous name. It looked the part, but beyond that was anything but.

 

Like many things Thailand a great deal of care went into the impressive facilities, a big part of the sales pitch as parents came in to pay the ridiculous fees. The curriculum itself was a joke. Rampant copying and cheating. Fancy textbooks which mostly made for part of the impressive decor. Kids playing games on their latest Apple gear. Tossing things about the classrooms like it’s always lunchtime in the canteen, as teachers flipped through PowerPoints and barked into mics regardless. Little to nothing done about it lest the spoiled brats complain to their hi-so parents upon hopping into their BMWs. Incredible arrogance, much of which rubbed off onto the long term farangs, despite being little more than lapdogs for their Thai admins.

 

Happy to be back in Issan at my humble country school, with humble country bumpkins. Just show up, give lessons, no pretensions, no attitude, feel appreciated. Online classes haven’t been great, yet not bad given the circumstances. There’s always the large portion who hardly do anything, same as it was during in person classes. It’s been touching to see the continued dedication from the groups of good students, the ones who make it worth it. No one’s whining about refunds. They’ll all get their scores and progress to the next grade next year. Meanwhile I’ve heard that private school has had to fork out refunds and cut salaries. Som nam na.

Edited October 24, 2021 by CrunchWrapSupreme

[FritsSikkink]

On 10/22/2021 at 9:18 PM, MarcelV said:

I teach at a very prestigious private school and we have been having online classes since May. I'm not worried about the school closing down for good. The school has been in business too long to forfeit. The fallout would be unthinkable.

Being in business very long doesn't say much about cash flow.

[thaibook]

On 10/23/2021 at 3:28 AM, soi3eddie said:

Before the pandemic, Bangkok held the title of the most visited city in the world and it was not just "tourists". Many came to and passed through to do trade and business benefitting the whole country. Creating jobs and employment but not just in the "entertainment areas" that so many here are fond of. Really it's about footfall. More people visiting or relocating in Thailand means more money in the economy. This money sustains employment which ultimately keeps people in jobs and that includes pupils and teachers in private schools educating the young generations in the way of the world. Private vs Government schools not the issue but it educates both types of students upwards. No private education or oversubscrition to government schools will not benefit anyone.

 

If private vs government is not the issue, private schools closing is not an issue.  My unserstanding is that government schools like in much of the world merely propagate the woke destructive self ideology of little worth while some private schools actually try to provide education in the real sense of the word.  I do not know which schools are closing but I would be woried if they are the ones that try to teach children to analuse critically and not to believe what is spouted by the media and performers be they soccer players or those who strut in front of cameras. 

[gearbox]

On 10/23/2021 at 6:51 AM, RafPinto said:

Best school in the country.

According to various sources the best secondary school in Thailand is the government Triam Udom Suksa School.  Probably out of reach for kids which are not Thai citizens.

[dutchweller]

On 10/23/2021 at 7:45 PM, DavisH said:

That's a bit rough. We are giving 5-6 periods online each day, which is hard on parents with young kids. Some schools are doign a full 8 period schedule online each day. How much of music or PE you can do online escapes me lol. 

A but rough is an understatement.

Especially when the invoice for the term shows up with 

: lunch fee

: transportation fee

: extra fee for school covid sanitizing <deleted>..

all while doing SFA and just a pathetic 6 hours of zoom classes/ week.

Also spoke to some of the staff who told me the actual school had been virtually mothballed.

No maintenance, nothing and most of the staff fired..

Just a big money grab by the greedy owners..

[Eibot]

Luckily we live in Phuket and the private schools have only closed here for very briefly (1 month). Cannot imagine havings months of online schoolings with our kids at home. They will get behind so badly..

[Liverpool Lou]

On 10/22/2021 at 5:12 PM, Lingba said:

keep the masses uneducated!

The "masses" do not go to private schools.

[Liverpool Lou]

On 10/22/2021 at 5:41 PM, itsari said:

Many parents are not able to pay there children's school fees and now the school administrators have few choices .

The Thai banks have a similar situation with there loans being paid , yet the banks are not closing like the schools .

That would be because none of the banks have the same financial problems driving them to bankruptcy as a few private schools do.   Why did you post such blatantly false information?

Edited October 25, 2021 by Liverpool Lou

[Liverpool Lou]

On 10/22/2021 at 9:18 PM, MarcelV said:

I teach at a very prestigious private school and we have been having online classes since May. I'm not worried about the school closing down for good. The school has been in business too long to forfeit. The fallout would be unthinkable.

Which school is that?

[Liverpool Lou]

On 10/23/2021 at 7:02 AM, arick said:

On 10/22/2021 at 5:25 PM, Dogmatix said:

Private school create a two tier society that is unfair. Closing them down puts increased pressure on the government schools.

The UK must be very unfair then 

As must the US be.   And Europe.  And Scandinavia.  And Russia....

[Neeranam]

On 10/23/2021 at 7:04 AM, arick said:

I am tutoring a girl Phyics IGCSE she had no clue of even what  exam board she was taking at her school! This school is charging 900,000 a year  tuition. 

Don't worry, just take the cash. I used to get 2000 baht an hour for tutoring Bangkok Pattana kids Maths, 20 years ago, it was great. 

[Neeranam]

On 10/23/2021 at 7:02 AM, arick said:

The UK must be very unfair then 

Not really, my public school was as good as any of the private schools around, including the one where Prince Charles, Andrew, Edward, Philip went to. 

However not many know what the schools are. In Scotland, I went to the same school as Lord Byron(but a few years later). When I went, it was a public school(comprehensive), which is not what the English call a 'public school'(they call private schools 'public'). When Byron went there, it was a private school(known as 'public' to the English). 

 

[Kevin Taylor]

Its bad. I think school kids are owed an apology from governments around the world for closing their schools for a virus that did not really affect them. A couple of years of education and learning lost.

[Neeranam]

8 minutes ago, Kevin Taylor said:

 A couple of years of education and learning lost.

Most studied online. My kids at school and uni did. I don't really care about the cost, just they are a pain in the <deleted> being home. 

[itsari]

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

That would be because none of the banks have the same financial problems driving them to bankruptcy as a few private schools do.   Why did you post such blatantly false information?

I wish it were false 

[arick]

18 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Not really, my public school was as good as any of the private schools around, including the one where Prince Charles, Andrew, Edward, Philip went to. 

However not many know what the schools are. In Scotland, I went to the same school as Lord Byron(but a few years later). When I went, it was a public school(comprehensive), which is not what the English call a 'public school'(they call private schools 'public'). When Byron went there, it was a private school(known as 'public' to the English). 

 

Your totally missing the point. My remark was regarding the person comment of Private and Public schools causing an unfair Society a two tier system. 

Edited October 26, 2021 by arick

[arick]

On 10/23/2021 at 10:47 AM, RafPinto said:

Must be one of the American International schools.

900 k is heavy but I pay over 700k too.

It's not an Americian School.. Think SW London/Public Schools around the capital. 

 

 

 

[jacko45k]

18 hours ago, Kevin Taylor said:

Its bad. I think school kids are owed an apology from governments around the world for closing their schools for a virus that did not really affect them. A couple of years of education and learning lost.

Except for those who may have lost a parent after transferring an infection. 

[phetphet]

If the schools can't reduce their fees in the current climate, they are just being greedy.

Of course, they still have to pay  the teachers, pay for teaching materials, licences, rent etc,. But school restaurants are closed, no school buses, no sport, water and electricity bills must be way down and many other possible reductions I  can't even think of.

Their paying customers (the parents) are either losing their jobs or their income, and something has to give.

Edited October 26, 2021 by phetphet