Bt4bn Teacher Training Project Gets Green Light

[webfact]

Bt4bn teacher training project gets green light

By Wannapa Khaopa

The Nation

The Cabinet yesterday approved a budget of more than Bt4 billion to continue a teacher project aimed at turning out skilled teachers for senior secondary students, Education Minister Chinnaworn Boonyakiat said.

The project, called the Teacher Professional Development Project, is run by the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology.

The Cabinet approved the third phase of the project. Its first two phases, running since 1996, have produced thousands of qualified mathematics and science teachers.

In the latest phase, to run from 2012 to 2021, there will be 580 students in the mathematics, science and computer fields each year, pursuing master's degrees in their chosen fields, he said.

Thirty of the 580 scholars will be selected to study for doctoral degrees. The remaining 550 will be appointed as teachers and government officers in various schools, Chinnaworn said.

The project has two categories of scholars: premium and super premium.

Scholarships will be offered to 400 students in the premium category. After graduation, they will teach senior secondary students physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and computer science in special classrooms under the Basic Education Commission.

The super premium category will fund 180 students. This group will be equipped with English language skills and will teach the same subjects to senior secondary students at 500 of the ministry's "worldclass standard schools", as well as at other schools with English programmes under the Basic Education Commission.

The scholars will also have a chance to do their internship abroad, so as to help them improve their English fluency.

"Of the Bt4.388billion budget, Bt3.933 billion will be spent on scholarships, while Bt455 million will be for the operating budget," the minister said.

"The ministry aims for the project to attract excellent people to be our teachers; to help improve our school students' math, science and computer ability. We also expect the project will help to increase the number of teachers who graduate directly from the fields in which they teach, thus easing the country's teachershortage problem," he said.

As well as approving the budget for the Teacher Professional Development Project, the Cabinet also approved Bt1.3 billion for the Education Ministry to assist its floodaffected agencies. About Bt1.1 billion will go to the Basic Education Commission, Bt66 million to the ministry's Office of the Permanent Secretary and Bt65 million to the Higher Education Commission, the minister said.

-- The Nation 2011-02-02

[spiderleghead]

how much will go to the pockets of the already rich education ministers?

[visions]

how much will go to the pockets of the already rich education ministers?

Going by the Bus scam in Bkk it seems the going rate is 50%

[Tanaka]

how much will go to the pockets of the already rich education ministers?

About 2,5 billion baht.

They say the project has been running since 1996. So where are all the well educated math and science teachers who have been graduated since then? The teachers to be shall also be able to study abroad to learn better English. It would be cheaper to teach them here. When they are in school themselves.