So Much Revision, But Thai Education System Still Failing

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

So much revision, but Thai education system still failing

The Nation

New ministers and policies arrive every few months, while education remains without a long-term vision

BANGKOK: -- Political analysts foresee a bleak future for Education Minister Suchart Tadathamrongvej. He's likely to be replaced soon by someone like Chaturon Chaisaeng. An education minister's tenure is often short-lived. The governments of Thaksin Shinawatra and his proxies have gone through more than 10 education ministers. The previous incumbent, Woravat Auapinyakulstayed, lost his job after only five months.

The point is that our national education policy is going nowhere amid this lack of consistency, direction and long-term vision. This puts Thailand's education system in a precarious position. The picture looks dismal given the breakneck changes.

The only slogan that has reverberated through the education world under the Yingluck-led government seems to be "free tablet PCs for Grade 1 students". This is, transparently, another of the Pheu Thai Party's populist schemes. The debate still rages as to whether the device is better suited to Grade 1 or Grade 4 pupils.

Beyond the tablet rhetoric, there's simply nothing of real significance in the way of education reform, which is regrettable given that Suchart has been at the helm for almost two years.

The problem is that every new minister comes up with a new set of policies. Woravat, minister from August 2011 to January this year, arrived in office with a promising policy of boosting students' English-language proficiency by hiring native English speakers as teachers under his "English Speaking Year" campaign.

The campaign stalled when Suchart took over the ministry and suddenly promoted the teaching of Mandarin as a third foreign language at all schools, under the Office of Basic Education Commission's supervision.

As every Thai schoolchild knows, English is difficult, but Mandarin is even worse. We still don't have enough qualified English teachers either. With the best intentions, politicians are keen on promoting the teaching of foreign languages at school as we look forward to the launch of the Asean Economic Community.

The implementation of this policy is a long process. It's not right to promote the policy before we first have enough qualified teachers to carry it out. It's also unclear how successful the English-teaching campaign has been so far. Fresh university graduates still have trouble putting a sentence together correctly in English.

The problems of the education system are chronic. It's easy to blame the low quality of our teachers. They are notorious for being debt-ridden because teaching remains a low-paying job. The teaching quality in Thailand is in large part questionable. Suchart has just revoked the permit for the private E-sarn University in Khon Kaen for selling diplomas. It will close at the end of this month, marooning more than 8,000 students.

Thailand's top education institutions are mostly concentrated in Bangkok. In the provinces, schools lack quality teachers as well as facilities like libraries, laboratories and sports grounds. Schools in the three southernmost provinces suffer these problems and more. Just last week in the deep South, a schoolteacher was shot dead by insurgents. Before that schools were torched.

Suchart wants to boost the number of teachers in the South by 10 per cent and provide scholarships to the children of victims of the unrest. That's just another knee-jerk reaction to an emergency situation, hardly a holistic approach to solving the education dilemma.

Instead, the minister needs to establish a long-term goal to improve the national education system and streamline the standards of all schools. But that's just what he can't do in his present capacity, because, sooner rather than later, someone else will take his place.

Thailand's competitiveness depends to a large degree on the quality of its education. No matter how many ministers come and go, a long-term national education policy is needed to lift the quality of our teaching personnel and tuition. The best reform begins with the Education Ministry.

-- The Nation 2012-10-04

[Arkady]

It's most important to keep reasonable educational opportunities the preserve of the rich and a feudal elite. Otherwise ordinary Thai with decent education would decline to vote for corrupt politicians from all parties with nonsensical policies. Besides, the Education Ministry is a highly lucrative source of corruption money with all its procurements of books, computers and construction projects, most of which never reach any of the disadvantaged village students. If the budget had to be used strictly to benefit all students equally, who would want to sacrifice themselves by working at the ministry for ridiculously low pay?

Hopefully one day the Education Ministry will be decentralised to provincial and district levels so that angry parents have the ability to complain directly to local officials that little Johnnie is not getting a fair crack of the whip. But in a country where provincial governors are appointed centrally and rotated round the country like military commanders of an army of occupation, this is not going to happen any time soon.

Edited October 4, 2012 by Arkady

[SOTIRIOS]

....I was told that there was a long-time scam running with regards to certain 'teachers' buying package deals from their homeland...

...the package included.....degrees.....airfare....and job contracts......all arranged for a fee or a percentage...

....surely such a big 'oversight' cannot be good for the Thai educational system...

....convenient to blame the 'Westerners'......

.....but just analyse who might really profit from this situation....

......those that earn 3000 baht a month in their homeland...who are suddenly 'teachers' earning 15.000- 20,000 a month.....

....or Westerners....who would earn the 30,000-35,000 a month back home....and more...working as cleaners....earning that, here, teaching...

[McMagus]

Anyone who has followed some of my other posts will know this is a subject close to my heart. In all honesty I can't ever see Thailand getting out of the educational hole it has dug itself. I couldn't agree more with Akardy very well put. Perhaps the answer is to move the whole Education Ministry to the deep south, it's the only way I can see anybody putting a bomb under them... figuratively speaking.

[yoslim]

Maybe the issue is not with the education system but with the ones attending the classes

[thequietman]

I don't understand !

Surely these schools have their 'To be No. 1 ,posters.

By now they should have all their shrubs and flowers looking smart.

There should be at least 3 water features and signs pointing towards the 'Genius Centre.'

They all know how to cheerlead, don't they ?

I don't understand why the system still isn't working. did all schools not get the memo ?

[cloudhopper]

Maybe the issue is not with the education system but with the ones attending the classes

And that issue would be what exactly?

[Tanaka]

Maybe the issue is not with the education system but with the ones attending the classes

And that issue would be what exactly?

The issue being that Thai students graduate having minimal knowledge of some subjects and no knowledge of most. But the main problem is not the students but the ignorant, narrowminded and uninterested teachers.

[Noistar]

Thai culture won't allow teachers' to be responsible for their competence.

Plus it is in the interests of, shall we say, 'the school', to prevent any interference with what makes them money.

School fees for my daughter have just increased because the school has installed air-conditioning! What the xxxxxx!!!

Its such a blatant con - they can't finance improvements without getting increases. I'd love to see the profit & loss accounts - the real ones

[Sayonarax]

Ever heard of having your education system evaluated ? Ever heard of having common sense to put your hand up and saying "hay world out there, we need some help with our education system!" Nah, we rather be argonant patriots and let it decay even further and further. Why on earth wouldn't you seek consultation on such an important task..?

*sticks fingers in ears, la la la la*

[siampolee]

Maybe the issue is not with the education system but with the ones attending the classes

No such thing as bad students, it's bad teachers and education policies that ruin a child's education

[rubl]

Does all this mean that throwing tabletPCs at (some) school kids doesn't work?

[vijer]

As every Thai schoolchild knows, English is difficult, but Mandarin is even worse. We still don't have enough qualified English teachers either. With the best intentions, politicians are keen on promoting the teaching of foreign languages at school as we look forward to the launch of the Asean Economic Community.

They have plenty of qualified English teachers, the problem is they don't allow teachers to fail students. There isn't even any penalty to the students for arriving late to class. I have students arriving 10 to 20 minutes late to class on a daily basis. We have an idiotic scoring system; first half of the semester the students can score a maximum of 30 points, in the second half a maximum of 40 points, then there are 10 whole points for behavior, and another 20 points for a final. Really, a hundred points for 20 weeks of work? And the one that should count for at least 50% of the grade is behavior, which I count participating in class and not disrupting class as behavior, is only 10 points. In the states you failed, got sent to the principles office, your parents were notified, you got expelled, etc. Then try to get a job without a high school diploma. Yep you worked for minimum wage. Here they don't care if they make minimum wage, they are going to drive a motorcycle taxi or sell noodles. Who needs an education for that?!

But what is really important, is that I use a blue pen to write my scores and a black pen to write my totals. If I don't do that the Thai admin complains and makes me redo my work. Yep can't tell the difference between a score and a total if the colors are not different.

[sangfroid]

Maybe the issue is not with the education system but with the ones attending the classes

+1

[Noistar]

As every Thai schoolchild knows, English is difficult, but Mandarin is even worse. We still don't have enough qualified English teachers either. With the best intentions, politicians are keen on promoting the teaching of foreign languages at school as we look forward to the launch of the Asean Economic Community.

They have plenty of qualified English teachers, the problem is they don't allow teachers to fail students. There isn't even any penalty to the students for arriving late to class. I have students arriving 10 to 20 minutes late to class on a daily basis. We have an idiotic scoring system; first half of the semester the students can score a maximum of 30 points, in the second half a maximum of 40 points, then there are 10 whole points for behavior, and another 20 points for a final. Really, a hundred points for 20 weeks of work? And the one that should count for at least 50% of the grade is behavior, which I count participating in class and not disrupting class as behavior, is only 10 points. In the states you failed, got sent to the principles office, your parents were notified, you got expelled, etc. Then try to get a job without a high school diploma. Yep you worked for minimum wage. Here they don't care if they make minimum wage, they are going to drive a motorcycle taxi or sell noodles. Who needs an education for that?!

But what is really important, is that I use a blue pen to write my scores and a black pen to write my totals. If I don't do that the Thai admin complains and makes me redo my work. Yep can't tell the difference between a score and a total if the colors are not different.

The worrying thing is that these daily TV spectacles of identically dressed robots getting their diplomas, is dumbing down the Thai education system.

How do you distinguish between a competent graduate and a 'system' graduate?

I've probably said before that around Muang Chiang Mai there are about 11 universities. The common factor is an inability to attempt to speak English, despite the opportunities of interacting with the many farang. There are a minority of exceptions of course.

KFC is another matter. Presumably these are less well-educated people who seem to enjoy interacting. But they don't have a fancy piece of paper. All they have is some ability.

When I visited KK, not many farang there, a student asked to walk with me to practice speaking their English. If only the privileged people here realised how lucky they are.

C'est la vie

[thatswhatuthought]

The whole school system from the bottom to the top is corrupt. Thailand can forget about having "qualified" teachers here unless they're in international schools. At least 95% of the population can't afford the real international schools. Private schools won't improve because it's easier to hand the ministry an envelope than it is to have a real inspection and make improvements. Note that international schools are inspected for accreditation from western board. Many dedicated teachers teaching at government and private schools struggle to do their best while fighting the admin for improvements. At many "prestigious" private schools you will struggle to find reading material for the students in the classroom. Teachers can forget about taking their students to the library. It's not allowed. I put very little blame on the teachers.Schooling is big business in Thailand and many people could lose a lot of money if there was a real overhaul. Not failing students, lack of materials, lack of freedom to teach, too much testing, no organization, corruption and lack of a decent curriculum are just some of the things teachers are dealing with.

[McMagus]

I don't mean to labour the point but blind Freddy can see that everything in Thailand is designed to maintain the locus of power (education) in the hands of a few. I have said in previous posts, the last thing they want (irrespective of colour of government) is to have their baby making factories in Issan disrupted by a thinking populace. The last thing they want is to give people the tools to raise themselves out of 'their place in society where they belong'. This is why I say things won't change for to do so would mean challenging the hierarchical / feudal system which is Thailand. I've seen foreign teachers having to 'remark' a child's exams so that he can get the magic 'pass'. As for teaching English here, I wouldn't bother getting out of bed in the morning for the piddling wage offered to a highly qualified and experienced western educator. 20 -30 k a month is an insult .... yep I know Thai teachers are on much less, and there lies half the problem.

[hellodolly]

In my opinion the whole system needs a complete make over. It can not be done over night. They could start out with giving a raise to the teachers. Also raise the bar on qualifications to become a teacher. This in it's self will take several years to bear fruit but it will. They could immediately start failing students who can not or in all likely hood won't do the work required. This would hurt many students but it would teach them and send a message to all the students that school was where you come to learn. Teachers are teachers not baby sitters.

In my opinion there is to much emphasis put on learning English The reality is that at the most only 10% of them will ever need it. The classes that do teach it should have qualified teachers. When I say qualified I mean able to teach not have a piece of paper. Nothing sadder than buying a product from a Thai seller that can get through with their English but need a calculator to make change on a 39 baht item when you give them a 100 baht note. Mathematics is the one subject that they will all be able to use in their life yet people think English is more important. Teach them a little History out side of Thailand. Here in Chiang Mai we had a whole school think that the Nazi's were the good guys.Teach them a little bit about the world outside their village. Show them that there is more to life than just their village or Town.

I do not know but It would not surprise me to hear that they know very little about Thailand outside their area be it a village or Bangkok.

edit

Forgot to mention they have to stop using education as a football first. Do what they have to do to find a man capable of doing the job and leave him in the position. Even if there is a change of government.

Edited October 4, 2012 by hellodolly

[Baerboxer]

The whole school system from the bottom to the top is corrupt. Thailand can forget about having "qualified" teachers here unless they're in international schools. At least 95% of the population can't afford the real international schools. Private schools won't improve because it's easier to hand the ministry an envelope than it is to have a real inspection and make improvements. Note that international schools are inspected for accreditation from western board. Many dedicated teachers teaching at government and private schools struggle to do their best while fighting the admin for improvements. At many "prestigious" private schools you will struggle to find reading material for the students in the classroom. Teachers can forget about taking their students to the library. It's not allowed. I put very little blame on the teachers.Schooling is big business in Thailand and many people could lose a lot of money if there was a real overhaul. Not failing students, lack of materials, lack of freedom to teach, too much testing, no organization, corruption and lack of a decent curriculum are just some of the things teachers are dealing with.

Your comments are inconsistent - "can forget about having "qualified" teachers here unless they're in international schools" and "Many dedicated teachers teaching at government and private schools struggle to do their best while fighting the admin for improvements".

I know many Thai teachers, some teaching in government shcools, some in private schools. The vast majority are hard working, concientious teachers who chose teaching for all the right reasons. It's their profession and they struggle against the "system" as indeed do teachers in many other countries. Of course there are some below par teachers, but again the same is true in all the countries I've lived in. Sending your children to an expensive or international private school does not guarantee the performance of indvidual teachers, in my experience.

The problem really lies with the MOE and policies which are not designed to provide higher education for the masses. Add to this the various levels of corruption and bureaucracy. Massive orverhaul needed - and there are lots of lessons learned from other countries which could be really useful. But, there has to be the politcal will and we all know the reality there.

Edited October 5, 2012 by Baerboxer

[Baerboxer]

In my opinion the whole system needs a complete make over. It can not be done over night. They could start out with giving a raise to the teachers. Also raise the bar on qualifications to become a teacher. This in it's self will take several years to bear fruit but it will. They could immediately start failing students who can not or in all likely hood won't do the work required. This would hurt many students but it would teach them and send a message to all the students that school was where you come to learn. Teachers are teachers not baby sitters.

In my opinion there is to much emphasis put on learning English The reality is that at the most only 10% of them will ever need it. The classes that do teach it should have qualified teachers. When I say qualified I mean able to teach not have a piece of paper. Nothing sadder than buying a product from a Thai seller that can get through with their English but need a calculator to make change on a 39 baht item when you give them a 100 baht note. Mathematics is the one subject that they will all be able to use in their life yet people think English is more important. Teach them a little History out side of Thailand. Here in Chiang Mai we had a whole school think that the Nazi's were the good guys.Teach them a little bit about the world outside their village. Show them that there is more to life than just their village or Town.

I do not know but It would not surprise me to hear that they know very little about Thailand outside their area be it a village or Bangkok.

edit

Forgot to mention they have to stop using education as a football first. Do what they have to do to find a man capable of doing the job and leave him in the position. Even if there is a change of government.

English language ability is key if they want to enter higher education, work for MNC's, or pursue education or employment outside of Thailand. Why do you think there are more people in China learning English than the population of the UK? It's the language of business, science and education. The reality is that all of them need it to stand any chance of bettering themselves. Limiting it to the small top % helps keep the feudal society intact. English and mathematics are key enablers.

Edited October 5, 2012 by Baerboxer

[scorecard]

It's most important to keep reasonable educational opportunities the preserve of the rich and a feudal elite. Otherwise ordinary Thai with decent education would decline to vote for corrupt politicians from all parties with nonsensical policies. Besides, the Education Ministry is a highly lucrative source of corruption money with all its procurements of books, computers and construction projects, most of which never reach any of the disadvantaged village students. If the budget had to be used strictly to benefit all students equally, who would want to sacrifice themselves by working at the ministry for ridiculously low pay?

Hopefully one day the Education Ministry will be decentralised to provincial and district levels so that angry parents have the ability to complain directly to local officials that little Johnnie is not getting a fair crack of the whip. But in a country where provincial governors are appointed centrally and rotated round the country like military commanders of an army of occupation, this is not going to happen any time soon.

Lots of good points. Plus there's another roadblock to change - older Thai teachers simply refuse to change, they refuse to attend seminars, lectures, demontrations, etc.

I know this well, my Thai son went to Pratom in Thailand, then to high school in Singapore where he experienced student centered learning for years. He then returned to Thailand and completed the quite new 5 year teaching degree, and he has a full teaching licence etc.

At his last work experience stage (just before graduation) the headmistres asked him and his work exp. buddy to give a student centered teaching demonstration to the other (obviously older) teachers.

Result, the older teachers took down all the notices, went en masse the head's office, told her they were insulted about any suggestion that change was needed, etc., and demanded she promise they would never again be any discussion or whatever about changes to teaching. She agreed. End of story.

Edited October 5, 2012 by scorecard

[kaspercat]

....I was told that there was a long-time scam running with regards to certain 'teachers' buying package deals from their homeland...

...the package included.....degrees.....airfare....and job contracts......all arranged for a fee or a percentage...

....surely such a big 'oversight' cannot be good for the Thai educational system...

....convenient to blame the 'Westerners'......

.....but just analyse who might really profit from this situation....

......those that earn 3000 baht a month in their homeland...who are suddenly 'teachers' earning 15.000- 20,000 a month.....

....or Westerners....who would earn the 30,000-35,000 a month back home....and more...working as cleaners....earning that, here, teaching...

Huh?

Your post makes no sense.

[atyclb]

"The quality of our graduates is between mediocre and nearly useless." http://asiancorrespondent.com/77060/thai-education-failures-part-3-pisa-scores-and-a-challenge-for-the-21st-century/

from a Thai academic no less.

Actually not to get off topic but this "mediocre to nearly useless' seems applicable to entertainment staff also

[atyclb]

....I was told that there was a long-time scam running with regards to certain 'teachers' buying package deals from their homeland...

...the package included.....degrees.....airfare....and job contracts......all arranged for a fee or a percentage...

....surely such a big 'oversight' cannot be good for the Thai educational system...

....convenient to blame the 'Westerners'......

.....but just analyse who might really profit from this situation....

......those that earn 3000 baht a month in their homeland...who are suddenly 'teachers' earning 15.000- 20,000 a month.....

....or Westerners....who would earn the 30,000-35,000 a month back home....and more...working as cleaners....earning that, here, teaching...

Huh?

Your post makes no sense.

Welcome to Thaivisa forum

[Samedeepwaterasyou]

The Thai education system motto: Keep the poor people ignorant via brainwashing, religion , daily propaganda and fear of questioning the powers that be, as long as we can, so they do not develop enough critical thinking to realize how much the poo yais have been messing with them for so long.

Nothing else .

[MrJohnson]

I don't mean to labour the point but blind Freddy can see that everything in Thailand is designed to maintain the locus of power (education) in the hands of a few. I have said in previous posts, the last thing they want (irrespective of colour of government) is to have their baby making factories in Issan disrupted by a thinking populace. The last thing they want is to give people the tools to raise themselves out of 'their place in society where they belong'. This is why I say things won't change for to do so would mean challenging the hierarchical / feudal system which is Thailand. I've seen foreign teachers having to 'remark' a child's exams so that he can get the magic 'pass'. As for teaching English here, I wouldn't bother getting out of bed in the morning for the piddling wage offered to a highly qualified and experienced western educator. 20 -30 k a month is an insult .... yep I know Thai teachers are on much less, and there lies half the problem.

Yes. All good points. And let's not forget, but never mention, the elephant in the living room. Any domino that is moved in the system could well bring the whole house down.

[Noistar]

In my opinion the whole system needs a complete make over. It can not be done over night. They could start out with giving a raise to the teachers. Also raise the bar on qualifications to become a teacher. This in it's self will take several years to bear fruit but it will. They could immediately start failing students who can not or in all likely hood won't do the work required. This would hurt many students but it would teach them and send a message to all the students that school was where you come to learn. Teachers are teachers not baby sitters.

In my opinion there is to much emphasis put on learning English The reality is that at the most only 10% of them will ever need it. The classes that do teach it should have qualified teachers. When I say qualified I mean able to teach not have a piece of paper. Nothing sadder than buying a product from a Thai seller that can get through with their English but need a calculator to make change on a 39 baht item when you give them a 100 baht note. Mathematics is the one subject that they will all be able to use in their life yet people think English is more important. Teach them a little History out side of Thailand. Here in Chiang Mai we had a whole school think that the Nazi's were the good guys.Teach them a little bit about the world outside their village. Show them that there is more to life than just their village or Town.

I do not know but It would not surprise me to hear that they know very little about Thailand outside their area be it a village or Bangkok.

edit

Forgot to mention they have to stop using education as a football first. Do what they have to do to find a man capable of doing the job and leave him in the position. Even if there is a change of government.

Agree with most of what you say, not least the complete ignorance of world history (can't beat a sweeping statement - me that is).

I won't admit that my daughter's chosen school is the one you mention - a Catholic school at that!!!

Higher standards, led by the removal of corrupt qualifications, is clearly the way forward. This also needs to be accompanied by a clearly defined curriculum. How many businesses would survive if they frequently switched between production processes? A hand on the tiller to keep the education plans realistic and achievable is all that is needed. Switching from a rowing boat, to a sailing boat to a steamer and whatever else, is not helping anyone.

Does leadership apply? - with 2 leaders, surely 1 of them can put education and the people, higher up the priority level.

Or is this part of the master plan?

Only thing I would disagree with is the importance of English as a language. I believe that a person who is competent in English is more likely to progress career-wise, than those who 'have a piece of paper'.

[thatswhatuthought]

The whole school system from the bottom to the top is corrupt. Thailand can forget about having "qualified" teachers here unless they're in international schools. At least 95% of the population can't afford the real international schools. Private schools won't improve because it's easier to hand the ministry an envelope than it is to have a real inspection and make improvements. Note that international schools are inspected for accreditation from western board. Many dedicated teachers teaching at government and private schools struggle to do their best while fighting the admin for improvements. At many "prestigious" private schools you will struggle to find reading material for the students in the classroom. Teachers can forget about taking their students to the library. It's not allowed. I put very little blame on the teachers.Schooling is big business in Thailand and many people could lose a lot of money if there was a real overhaul. Not failing students, lack of materials, lack of freedom to teach, too much testing, no organization, corruption and lack of a decent curriculum are just some of the things teachers are dealing with.

Your comments are inconsistent - "can forget about having "qualified" teachers here unless they're in international schools" and "Many dedicated teachers teaching at government and private schools struggle to do their best while fighting the admin for improvements".

I know many Thai teachers, some teaching in government shcools, some in private schools. The vast majority are hard working, concientious teachers who chose teaching for all the right reasons. It's their profession and they struggle against the "system" as indeed do teachers in many other countries. Of course there are some below par teachers, but again the same is true in all the countries I've lived in. Sending your children to an expensive or international private school does not guarantee the performance of indvidual teachers, in my experience.

The problem really lies with the MOE and policies which are not designed to provide higher education for the masses. Add to this the various levels of corruption and bureaucracy. Massive orverhaul needed - and there are lots of lessons learned from other countries which could be really useful. But, there has to be the politcal will and we all know the reality there.

Please explain???????????????

[thatswhatuthought]

The whole school system from the bottom to the top is corrupt. Thailand can forget about having "qualified" teachers here unless they're in international schools. At least 95% of the population can't afford the real international schools. Private schools won't improve because it's easier to hand the ministry an envelope than it is to have a real inspection and make improvements. Note that international schools are inspected for accreditation from western board. Many dedicated teachers teaching at government and private schools struggle to do their best while fighting the admin for improvements. At many "prestigious" private schools you will struggle to find reading material for the students in the classroom. Teachers can forget about taking their students to the library. It's not allowed. I put very little blame on the teachers.Schooling is big business in Thailand and many people could lose a lot of money if there was a real overhaul. Not failing students, lack of materials, lack of freedom to teach, too much testing, no organization, corruption and lack of a decent curriculum are just some of the things teachers are dealing with.

Your comments are inconsistent - "can forget about having "qualified" teachers here unless they're in international schools" and "Many dedicated teachers teaching at government and private schools struggle to do their best while fighting the admin for improvements".

I know many Thai teachers, some teaching in government shcools, some in private schools. The vast majority are hard working, concientious teachers who chose teaching for all the right reasons. It's their profession and they struggle against the "system" as indeed do teachers in many other countries. Of course there are some below par teachers, but again the same is true in all the countries I've lived in. Sending your children to an expensive or international private school does not guarantee the performance of indvidual teachers, in my experience.

The problem really lies with the MOE and policies which are not designed to provide higher education for the masses. Add to this the various levels of corruption and bureaucracy. Massive orverhaul needed - and there are lots of lessons learned from other countries which could be really useful. But, there has to be the politcal will and we all know the reality there.

Please explain???????????????

If what you getting at is about "Qualified" teachers, notice the quotation marks. In Thailand the MOE wants you to have pieces of paper to show that you are "qualified". They don't look at the fact that many teachers with these pieces of paper are incompetent and don't know how to teach. Many without these pieces of paper have the ability, knowledge and dedication it takes to be a teacher.

Edited November 26, 2012 by thatswhatuthought