Education Ministry To Hire 13,000 Administrative Officers

[george]

Education Ministry to hire 13,000 administrative officers

BANGKOK: -- The Education Ministry is going to tackle the shortage of teachers by hiring 13,000 administrative officers for state schools.

Education Minister Jurin Laksanawisit Friday pointed out that the lack of administrative officers had long forced teachers to handle administrative works, which made them less focused on teaching tasks.

"Hiring administrative officers will also reduce unemployment rate in the country," Jurin said.

Deputy Education Minister Chaiwuti Bannawat said priority in recruitment would be given to applicants with registered hometown in areas where schools were located.

-- The Nation 2009-01-16

[jasreeve17]

This move will seriously increase the work of teachers...

[FatherF]

This move will seriously increase the work of teachers...

Please enlighten me as to how this will increase the work of teachers? or am i just being stupid?

FF

[jasreeve17]

This move will seriously increase the work of teachers...

Please enlighten me as to how this will increase the work of teachers? or am i just being stupid?

FF

Admin staff are almost always friends or relatives of deans and senior teachers, they do no work at all and cannot be sacked / questioned. They permanently obstruct teachers by avoiding their responsibilities, lying and generally getting in the way of a properly functioning institution. You may find these words harsh, but there are so many examples...

Schools / unis do NOT lack admin staff, they lack skilled and / or motivated admin staff. Adding more from the pool of locally unemployed people will mean that these new employees will at least have to be seen to do something, so they will be given tasks, which they won't do... for example;-

All schools unis have somebody to do the photocopying, but all teachers know to do it themselves to make sure it's done on time and correctly. This task could be one that is forced away from the teachers and given to the admin, who won't do it. The first twenty minutes of the lesson will then be spent by the teacher doing it, or more likely, the teacher's are too embarrassed to either confront the admin workers or be seen to be doing their work, so the students will just have to suffer...

The uni I'm based at has a shockingly poor admin department (this is normal across the country I'm reliably told by experienced Thai teachers and also supports my own observations across half a dozen unis I've worked / guested at) that all the Thai teachers and myself hate being involved with at any time for any reason. Lots of them sitting down together doing very little, but always too busy to help... but they often fit in the middle of a chain; sitting and blocking, avoiding work, lying when asked, doing nothing, building workloads for others - the teachers.

It shouldn't be that way, it doesn't have to be that way, but it is this way.

Edited January 16, 2009 by jasreeve17

[FatherF]

Many thanks for the info, I didn't realise that it was like that.

FF

[jasreeve17]

Many thanks for the info, I didn't realise that it was like that.

FF

I can understand, it is hard to believe. Some stories I could tell you are just insanity, you wouldn't believe that adults could behave this way.

I'd be interested to hear if other folk have had the same experience, or if my colleagues and I have been especially unlucky?

[mssabai]

Have to say your experiences are not universal. My last school had excellent admin staff who were shockingly underpaid for the amount of work they did. The next school I am going to apparently also has very good admin staff. But maybe I am just lucky!

[dumball]

Too many chiefs and too few indians , or too many chefs spoil the broth , or too many doing too little about too much . A drastic move from the 'Rote ' method of teaching , students taught to 'Think ' , stop cheating and do away with compulsary pass marks to appease parents are a few of the things I have noticed comments on in the past .

[jasreeve17]

Have to say your experiences are not universal. My last school had excellent admin staff who were shockingly underpaid for the amount of work they did. The next school I am going to apparently also has very good admin staff. But maybe I am just lucky!

Thanks for your reply - was this a private school?

[Scott]

Where I am the assistants create more work for the teachers.

[toptuan]

This move will seriously increase the work of teachers...

Please enlighten me as to how this will increase the work of teachers? or am i just being stupid?

FF

Admin staff are almost always friends or relatives of deans and senior teachers, they do no work at all and cannot be sacked / questioned. They permanently obstruct teachers by avoiding their responsibilities, lying and generally getting in the way of a properly functioning institution. You may find these words harsh, but there are so many examples...

Schools / unis do NOT lack admin staff, they lack skilled and / or motivated admin staff. Adding more from the pool of locally unemployed people will mean that these new employees will at least have to be seen to do something, so they will be given tasks, which they won't do... for example;-

All schools unis have somebody to do the photocopying, but all teachers know to do it themselves to make sure it's done on time and correctly. This task could be one that is forced away from the teachers and given to the admin, who won't do it. The first twenty minutes of the lesson will then be spent by the teacher doing it, or more likely, the teacher's are too embarrassed to either confront the admin workers or be seen to be doing their work, so the students will just have to suffer...

The uni I'm based at has a shockingly poor admin department (this is normal across the country I'm reliably told by experienced Thai teachers and also supports my own observations across half a dozen unis I've worked / guested at) that all the Thai teachers and myself hate being involved with at any time for any reason. Lots of them sitting down together doing very little, but always too busy to help... but they often fit in the middle of a chain; sitting and blocking, avoiding work, lying when asked, doing nothing, building workloads for others - the teachers.

It shouldn't be that way, it doesn't have to be that way, but it is this way.

This exactly reflects the sorry state of affairs at my Uni. When you really need to speak to our admin. officer (who is in charge of photocopying) you have to wait patiently near the half-closed door where he naps, until he's done napping. He requires we give him all work at least 48 hours in advance, or the photocopying job won't be done in time. He spends half his time napping, 40% of his time playing on his PC (non-Uni work), and 10% of his time doing haphazard copying work which is so poor (unreadable copies, stapled out of order), that we teachers would rather do it ourselves. Suits him just fine.

Of course, this administrative officer has a life-long job because he cannot be fired, confirming the above poster's observations.

[fobuff]

Hey What about hiring 10 000 qualified teachers.....

Fobuff

[OlRedEyes]

Hey What about hiring 10 000 qualified teachers.....

Fobuff

Nah... That would defeat the object of the exercise, window dressing, and may well lead to the masses actually starting to be educated, god forbid.

[PeaceBlondie]

Hopefully, this is just another announcement from a bureaucrat and will not be done. Most likely, it will be done poorly.

I never had an admin staff in two years who could process an application for a work permit or a visa extension. Which is the main reason I stopped teaching.

[southerndown]

This move will seriously increase the work of teachers...

Please enlighten me as to how this will increase the work of teachers? or am i just being stupid?

FF

Admin staff are almost always friends or relatives of deans and senior teachers, they do no work at all and cannot be sacked / questioned. They permanently obstruct teachers by avoiding their responsibilities, lying and generally getting in the way of a properly functioning institution. You may find these words harsh, but there are so many examples...

Schools / unis do NOT lack admin staff, they lack skilled and / or motivated admin staff. Adding more from the pool of locally unemployed people will mean that these new employees will at least have to be seen to do something, so they will be given tasks, which they won't do... for example;-

All schools unis have somebody to do the photocopying, but all teachers know to do it themselves to make sure it's done on time and correctly. This task could be one that is forced away from the teachers and given to the admin, who won't do it. The first twenty minutes of the lesson will then be spent by the teacher doing it, or more likely, the teacher's are too embarrassed to either confront the admin workers or be seen to be doing their work, so the students will just have to suffer...

The uni I'm based at has a shockingly poor admin department (this is normal across the country I'm reliably told by experienced Thai teachers and also supports my own observations across half a dozen unis I've worked / guested at) that all the Thai teachers and myself hate being involved with at any time for any reason. Lots of them sitting down together doing very little, but always too busy to help... but they often fit in the middle of a chain; sitting and blocking, avoiding work, lying when asked, doing nothing, building workloads for others - the teachers.

It shouldn't be that way, it doesn't have to be that way, but it is this way.

A very good post

I always wonder if people - and not just on Thaivisa - really do not know that this sort of thing happens all over Thailand and not just the education sector

On other threads - but thankfully not this one - you then get the apologists arriving pretending all is right and everyone is mistaken. just my experience

[KhaoNiaw]

Hey What about hiring 10 000 qualified teachers.....

Fobuff

You think there are 10,000 unemployed qualified teachers out there?

Edited January 17, 2009 by KhaoNiaw

[Loaded]

Hey What about hiring 10 000 qualified teachers.....

Fobuff

You think there are 10,000 unemployed qualified teachers out there?

Over the last few years 000s of qualified Thai teachers have left the industry. Most took early retirement from government schools. The problem isn't finding qualified teachers; the problem is retaining them.

[geriatrickid]

I'd be interested to hear if other folk have had the same experience, or if my colleagues and I have been especially unlucky?

Your posts made me laugh, if only because it brought back memories my uni days. If Thai admin staff are anything like they were at my western unis, I feel sorry for the folks that will have to deal with them. You can't appreciate the aggravation admin staff can cause until you deal with them. I suppose it is cruel for me to laugh at other's misfortunes, but some things never change, do they? I feel for the teachers, lecturers, profs that will be at the receiving end of the "extra" support staff.

[otherstuff1957]

This will be a huge setback for teachers. All of these excess Admin types will try to justify their existence by spending their time creating yet more worthless paperwork and bureaucratic BS to waste teachers' time. Most schools in Thailand have enough Admin staff, they just don't have enough teachers, classrooms or resources.

[hammered]

My wife and I were listening in on a bunch of prathom students talking about school. Interesting to overhear what those that are never asked actually think:

School is closed for too many silly days off or silly events

Most teachers dont care about them

The swimming pool was only opened so teachers could make money. Students cant use it.

Teachers try to force students to do after school classes

School always want money

School paid for staff to go on a shopping trip (abroad I think)

Food is horrible

etc etc It was quite interesting at how ones so young actually has such sensible complaints.

[hardy1943]

This will be a huge setback for teachers. All of these excess Admin types will try to justify their existence by spending their time creating yet more worthless paperwork and bureaucratic BS to waste teachers' time. Most schools in Thailand have enough Admin staff, they just don't have enough teachers, classrooms or resources.

Very true all they due hire 12,999 more buffaloes 1 could be smart.

[skettios]

Many thanks for the info, I didn't realise that it was like that.

FF

I can understand, it is hard to believe. Some stories I could tell you are just insanity, you wouldn't believe that adults could behave this way.

I'd be interested to hear if other folk have had the same experience, or if my colleagues and I have been especially unlucky?

I work at a private school, so we won't be affected by this. However what you said was exactly spot on. The guy who is in charge of photocopying is admin, he does it wrong every time.

The female office administrators regularly make promises to parents that cannot be kept by teachers, example your dumb kid who speaks English at a P1 level will spend the year in ESL and be P4 next year.

The woman in charge of paperwork has actually lost a few passports. The woman who is our liaison with the government couldn't get any more information about the changes to Teachers licensing, than I had already gotten off the internet. She is also supposed to be in charge of discipline. I stopped sending students to her because she would regularly let them off the hook because she was too lazy to deal with them.

I don't know what most school administrators do all day, but I know what they don't do... work.

We have a few new staff who are doing a better job, but I pity any school that will be dealing with new administrators in the coming year.

[mhatami]

Where I am the assistants create more work for the teachers.

Does that mean they could hire teachers and may be frang teachers.

As an American where do I go to find out if I can get a position?

moe

[PeaceBlondie]

Where I am the assistants create more work for the teachers.

Does that mean they could hire teachers and may be frang teachers.

As an American where do I go to find out if I can get a position?

moe

Hi,

You might start scanning comments in our Teaching in Thailand forum on ThaiVisa. You can log on to ajarn.com and register your availability to teach. This is a bad time of year since the school year starts in May. Good luck.

[Pierrot]

This move will seriously increase the work of teachers...

Please enlighten me as to how this will increase the work of teachers? or am i just being stupid?

FF

Admin staff are almost always friends or relatives of deans and senior teachers,...

Please could we stop being naive here ? Civil servant, especially the useless ones, are the best supporters of the current government. The Yellow shirts, after being offered some temporary assignments (sitting in government house, and later at the airport, was never free of charge), are now given full time jobs.

Since they are in power, the people behind the current government are making sure that the people who help them are handsomely thanks. And you were saying that Thaksin was corrupt ….

[mrtoad]

This will be a huge setback for teachers. All of these excess Admin types will try to justify their existence by spending their time creating yet more worthless paperwork and bureaucratic BS to waste teachers' time. Most schools in Thailand have enough Admin staff, they just don't have enough teachers, classrooms or resources.

Yep, go to agree with that. Same all around the world. What they would have been off to doing, was spending money on resources that directly improve standards.

[Gravelrash]

This move will seriously increase the work of teachers...

Please enlighten me as to how this will increase the work of teachers? or am i just being stupid?

FF

Admin staff are almost always friends or relatives of deans and senior teachers,...

Please could we stop being naive here ? Civil servant, especially the useless ones, are the best supporters of the current government. The Yellow shirts, after being offered some temporary assignments (sitting in government house, and later at the airport, was never free of charge), are now given full time jobs.

Since they are in power, the people behind the current government are making sure that the people who help them are handsomely thanks. And you were saying that Thaksin was corrupt ….

This is no doubt what it is really about, the PAD are being appointed ministers and advisers to the governmnet, the bureaucracy will swell, next we will see tidbits for the army and of course the elite will be cashing in as well. Don't get me wrong this is just business as usual, but there will be those here with some silly rationalization as to the necessity.

[astral]

Hey.

How about training/employing more teachers...................

[Artisi]

Where I am the assistants create more work for the teachers.

Does that mean they could hire teachers and may be frang teachers.

As an American where do I go to find out if I can get a position?

moe

First step in being a teacher is the ability to read and write.

[samgrowth]

Education Ministry to hire 13,000 administrative officers

"Hiring administrative officers will also reduce unemployment rate in the country," Jurin said.

-- The Nation 2009-01-16

Most of these 13,000 admin officers will have nothing to do but wait for month end sales at Central. On top of that, they will get another 2,000 Baht per month from Mark V govt. That's the way to make public sector competitive.