Thailand's educational spending highest in the world

[krjesq]

I agree there are many problems. My 3 y/o son is in kindergarten and has been told that he needs a tutor because he is not in the top of his class. He is only 3 and speaks English and Thai, can order and pay for his own food, and is way above most other 3 y/os. Just another way to keep digging money from my pocket

[JackJD]

Average low IQ kids have more difficulty learning... add the commonly accepted graft and you have a combination for FAILURE!

[fxe1200]

Thailand's educational spending highest in the world

I would therefore conclude that Thai's are the smartest people in the world.

A. Either the numbers are wrong

B. The money never gets spent

Look at the cars some Deans are driving, look at their offices, equipped with very expensive sumptuous furniture, then you know, where the money is being spent. See how farang teachers are being treated, they are being kicked out with no reasons given, and replaced by Chinese teachers, who are being lured into the country with the promise to earn 25KTHB, but end up being paid only 15 to 18KTHB/month. Some teachers found out, that even their social security expenditures have not being paid. The whole system is ruled by the greed of those, who have access to the money given by the state and/or parents.

[BradWalker]

I will drop my two satang in on this topic. I am an English Teacher, and, according to my students and upstream personnel, I am pretty good at it. I was recruited to teach here in Surin by a couple of schools. It seems that the King, who is probably the smartest person of authority in the country, recognized the fact that Thailand is terribly deficient in their ability to speak English, the official business language of the nascent ASEAN Economic Community. (Not that hard to recognize-Thailand ranks 55 out of 60 non-English speaking countries, besting only Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya, Khazekistan and some other obscure Soviet breakaway in their English Scores).

His Majesty decides to do something about it.His majesty has done this before-he was the instigator of the movement to improve Thai Health Care (now probably the best in Asia) and the Thai manufacturing-for-export business-so he decided to devote Crown funds to schools if they would hire Native English Speakers (such as myself).

The rush was on. I was approached by three schools without any effort on my part and elected to work with two of them. Money was good-10,000/month/school for only 6 hours a week of work. They had no curriculum or study materials-I created all of the above. The kids, with a few exceptions (like everywhere), were great; I really saw them advancing in their ability. Many of them actually cared. I was paraded in front of parents as the "star" English teacher.

Unfortunately, neither contract was renewed, though I have every reason to believe that both schools continue to receive the 10,000 a month from Crown Properties. Who is getting the cash? One does not need a degree to figure that one out. When you are paying and only lining some middleman-in-the-system's pockets, you are going to get what we have here in T-Land. Remember, a recent poll came up with numbers indicating that 62% of the Thai population thought that corruption was "OK". I guess, if that is how you are brought up; you reap what you sew.

[amse]

I'm a retired xpat teacher, taught in Phuket and Bangkok from 2002-2009, private bilingual, international schools from grades K1 to highschool. Thai boys especially in highschool are mostly interested in sleeping or skipping classes and riding their motorcycles as fast as they can without a helmet. Most girls are the smartest and more interested in an education. Many college degrees aren't worth the paper there written on. My landlords daughter graduated from a Thai school with high marks, went to the Prince University in Phuket and graduated with a bachelors IT degree. Her 1st job was at a hospital working in the IT area at a monthly salary of 10,000 baht ($330US), she now works at a bank for 13,000 baht a month ($430). She now has gone back to college for her masters degree to maybe get a salary of 16,000 baht a month ($530). Go Figure?

[WhiteTrash]

classic example of quantity over quality

[petedk]

Thailand's educational spending highest in the world

I would therefore conclude that Thai's are the smartest people in the world.

A. Either the numbers are wrong

B. The money never gets spent

Look at the cars some Deans are driving, look at their offices, equipped with very expensive sumptuous furniture, then you know, where the money is being spent. See how farang teachers are being treated, they are being kicked out with no reasons given, and replaced by Chinese teachers, who are being lured into the country with the promise to earn 25KTHB, but end up being paid only 15 to 18KTHB/month. Some teachers found out, that even their social security expenditures have not being paid. The whole system is ruled by the greed of those, who have access to the money given by the state and/or parents.

They also spend a lot of money on so called "educational tours" for the Thai teachers, which are in fact all expense paid holidays to all parts of the world, providing they spend a couple of hours at some university lecture.

[dazza101]

when money is sent to schools it sometimes goes into pockets of others and not on the school at all. in our village the head of school forged documents and took one million baht. after being caught six months later he was transferred and not made to pay it back. more control on the funds are needed

[semaritual]

Yes in spending money this country is doing great: all intol a huge waste bin!

I was always thinking the most unedicated people i found in the USA but i found another country : Thailand!

Couple of days ago i met an english teacher, teaching since 12 years. His english was that bad that i was shocked but not wanted to offend him tooo much and said nothing, only correted him always: his english level was a german high school level of 5 years teaching! Good bless these children!

[Dante99]

Thai spending per student is very very low comparatively. It is sad that Thai university researchers would ignore this clear fact and suggest that Thai educational expenditures are high by some other measure attempting to give a positive image.

What ever the expenditures are, the educational system is not effective and has not had significant improvement for decades, one of the saddest things about Thailand.

[timplot]

As far as the Thai English program goes, the 1^st thing the Thais should do is shut down all these Slimy Limey Brokers who convince the Thai schools to hire them to find new English teachers and then Horse Funuk the teachers out of their salary and split ½ the cash with the mafia school administration. Once these criminal scum are gone the Thai schools will still suck!!!!

[MJP]

Thai spending per student is very very low comparatively. It is sad that Thai university researchers would ignore this clear fact and suggest that Thai educational expenditures are high by some other measure attempting to give a positive image.

What ever the expenditures are, the educational system is not effective and has not had significant improvement for decades, one of the saddest things about Thailand.

Reading these posts, it's all beyond redemption to be honest.

[Halion]

Educational spending, highest in the world according to a Thai University . It is a pity that the writer did not bother to explain where all this money goes as it is most evident that it is not spent on education.

[a99az]

Never mind the quality feel the width. Just goes to show you that putting your kids into a Thai school is a sad wast of the childs effort and your money.

[Irishrogue]

K. Suriyadev Tripati should be careful what he wishes for. In one generation of quality education the population of Thailand could actually make an informed political choice.

[Leung Falang]

We volunteer in the schools, all the public ones helping with English. Classes are as large as 50 students, promotion is basically automatic so poor students just take up space after a few years and make noise, and absent teacher means no teacher, lots of "events" such as sports days, holiday celebrations, field trips that are loud music and sightseeing, etc. They teach technology such as the cellphone is a telephone, wi-fi means no wire, etc. Dumb down.... English teachers normally don't speak English. Standard tests are chock full of errors and choices so similar it is hard to tell correct from incorrect and sometimes all the choices are incorrect, yet no one cares. Rote memorization is standard, critical thinking is never taught. Class discipline is non-existent in many classrooms. On and On and On. We are working with a large group of M-6 (grade 12) this year and a cousin is living with us the last semester. Most have gpa of 2.5 or so, and only one is above 3 with a 3.3 gpa. On some of the university entrance tests, they admit to only being sure about 2-3 questions out of 40-50 so just guess about the others. sad SAD sad

Reform/Discipline/No automatic promotion/Parent involvement

middle school in Isaan

[Ulic]

Spending a higher percentage of GDP on education and being in class 3-6 times as much as students

in North America, just goes to show you "practise doesn't make perfect, only perfect practise makes perfect."

Set up a better/more effective education program. Spend less time in class, kids should be kids. Clearly what

they are doing now is not working and you don't have to throw more money at it.

[MJP]

We volunteer in the schools, all the public ones helping with English. Classes are as large as 50 students, promotion is basically automatic so poor students just take up space after a few years and make noise, and absent teacher means no teacher, lots of "events" such as sports days, holiday celebrations, field trips that are loud music and sightseeing, etc. They teach technology such as the cellphone is a telephone, wi-fi means no wire, etc. Dumb down.... English teachers normally don't speak English. Standard tests are chock full of errors and choices so similar it is hard to tell correct from incorrect and sometimes all the choices are incorrect, yet no one cares. Rote memorization is standard, critical thinking is never taught. Class discipline is non-existent in many classrooms. On and On and On. We are working with a large group of M-6 (grade 12) this year and a cousin is living with us the last semester. Most have gpa of 2.5 or so, and only one is above 3 with a 3.3 gpa. On some of the university entrance tests, they admit to only being sure about 2-3 questions out of 40-50 so just guess about the others. sad SAD sad

Reform/Discipline/No automatic promotion/Parent involvement

middle school in Isaan

"If you want to control people, first you must make them stupid."

I'm not sure whether this actually was a Margaret Thatcher quote.

[Emster23]

I think the article was inappropriately titled. Should have been Educational Budget, not Educational Spending. I would not be surprised if less than 10% of that budget goes to actual delivery of instruction. With so many schools and so little oversight, Education is a perfect budget to launder money to the hogs at the trough.

That said, even if the money got to the schools, the methods, training and curriculum seem to be designed to blunt and stunt any inclination a student may bring to school.

I was a teacher in USA and wished we had uniforms. Why? levels social class distinctions greatly. Gives students a sense that they are not just dropping by, but are there for a purpose. Easy to identify who belongs there and who doesn't. And I would argue that there is less pressure on parents budgets with uniforms: kid won't be crying for latest fashion etc. They have to wear something to school, and a uniform worn every day is less than trying to somehow keep up with fashion (and derision that may be heaped on poorer kids that don't have resources to keep up).

[atyclb]

Personally I find anachronistic (and expensive!) the need of 3 different uniforms (gym, scout/army and normal day) with cleaned spare and the relative expensive and low quality shoes..

How a poor family can afford this expense?

And, IMHO, but just mine, uniforms at school are so much North Korea style...

I'm with you on the uniform. I have three sons and they can't

share gym or scout or school uniforms as they have their

names embroidered on the bloody things.

why not sew small velcro patches on the uniforms and velcro tagged embroidered fabric names?

[casindonet]

...someone is not getting their money's worth...

Every single students that has attended school should be given a refund.

Sent from my GT-I9200 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ThaiFelix]

 

wouldnt be surprized if it is the truth but it just goes to show how much of it is going into peoples pockets/bank accounts as it is certainly not getting through to the schools. Like most financial deals in this country the people suffer as the top dogs get to pocket most of the money, another reason Thailand needs to have honest government and open financial policies so the people can see exactly where akll this money is going..

I think so many of us find it easy to lay much blame with government. But, I think we fail to acknowledge that the core problem is with the entire society. The politicians are but a reflection of the nation's character.

When one puts all the big stats together, a rather embarrassing and grim picture of Thai society becomes clear.

It's a complete mess.

 

PaullyW I agree with you but would like to add what I have gleaned from 9 years experience as a teacher in Thailand working for a large chain of schools.

According to what I have heard, and others may correct me if I'm wrong, the Ministry of Education is the only government department that does not have to declare its financials ie what comes in and what goes out....and where??...that raises my eyebrows.

The school I worked for, and it was the same with the others in the chain, put a lot of money, time and effort into trying to impress the parents with full-on activities. An example was sports day where for every day for three weeks prior to the event, cheering practice consumed the last period. So each child lost 15 hours of education just to practice cheering. At the same time no real sporting events were actually held on "Sports Day" and thus no actual sporting practice. Most of the days events were parades where boys and girls would be dressed up to compete against other parents' daughters and sons. In fact one year the parents complained that their team's uniforms where not sexy enough....and we are talking about kindergarten here!! As you say PaullyW, its the society.

Another example was an obviously autistic child who spent all day sitting under his desk playing with a cup of water or whirling the wheel of an old cassette tape. While he did no actual work all his workbooks were done and up to date by the Thai teachers (not their wish). When I suggested that this child needed special treatment, the head coordinator advised me that they had had meetings with his parents and they had refused to move him because they believed he was getting a better education now than he would get elsewhere!!?? The Thai teachers, who sympathised with me, later explained to me quietly that the parents only concern was that he went home every day wearing the same uniform as the other Hi-So kids. Again, its the society.

On that same note, the neighbours used to ask my wife what school I taught at. When she told them they would remark that it was a very very good school.....but not for learning!! So what makes it a very very good school then?? Hi-So kids go there I suppose?

Many times I have had very bright students who seem to excel at everything but once they are noticed they are utilised by the school to be the main characters in the never ending parent impressing activities put on by the school. Eventually these children fall behind because they are being forever pulled out of normal classes to practice for the activities. Most parents dont seem to mind because they want their children up the front on stage. In fact many parents complain if their children are not up front...talented or not. Sooner or later the bright students parents, or I should say those who place education before Hi-So bu###hit, pull their kids out of the school but rather than confront the school with the truth the story is always that they have moved to another area, or some other bu##s#it line. And yet everyone knows that they still live just down the road. Thailand/Thais will never move on until they learn to confront. Forget the mai pen rai, say what you really feel, that way people will think twice next time. As you say PaullyW, it's the society.

IMHO Thailand's educational spending may be the highest in the world but it is not spent on education. In fact my school spent very little on education. Every year the Thai teachers are forced to work more and more hours and all teachers are expected to pay for more and more resources. An example was the computer rooms which appeared to be well stocked but most of them didn't work because the school would not pay for their upkeep. They looked good in the school's glossy album but in fact most teachers were forced to buy their own laptops/pc's because the school insisted that all lesson plans, worksheets, results etc be prepared in electronic form. Exam papers were only provided in sufficient numbers to cover one class only, the students had to put their answers on their own paper. Then the exam papers were collected and handed out to the next class. No one failed because the teachers were forced to keep retesting until the student passed. The students know the score that eventually the teacher will tire or run out of time to retest so the marks are altered to a pass level.

In my school the children were not students, they were customers, or more correctly, the parents were. Tell a parent the truth and you lose a customer, you lose income. Without income you cant keep expanding by building more schools. Head office expects each school to bring in a calculated income, and it is taken from each school first, leaving the schools to find their running costs whichever way they can. They fine the teachers 500 baht if a light or air conditioner is left on. They especially like the lazy or tardy teachers. Mostly farang as the Thais cannot afford to be late or absent. And I would like to emphasise the lazy farang are the minority, most I have worked with care about their students and work very hard. If you are a good teacher you are rewarded with more work because you are reliable. If you are reliable you get a pay raise each year and they really resent that and try to find ways out of it. The lazy ones get away with murder and are allowed to be that way because they are deducted every time they are late or absent. One guy I had the misfortune to work with bragged about having 26 absent days in one semester while you were only permitted 5 days with a doctor's certificate. He maintained this level of "reliability" for 8 years before they finally got rid of him and only because the other teachers were beginning to openly complain. He was still given a month's pay to leave 'quietly". A good teacher resigning on good terms after 9 years was given nothing, not even a thank you or a goodbye.

I could go on forever but wont. As you say PaullyW, it's the society. Most parents know what goes on, its difficult not to notice. But as long as most parents put what appears to be status before education nothing will change. This country needs accountability....from top to bottom. The parents with the real status in this country don't send their kids to Thai schools, they send them to Singapore, Malaysia, Australia etc to get a real education.

[bushman1666]

Personally I find anachronistic (and expensive!) the need of 3 different uniforms (gym, scout/army and normal day) with cleaned spare and the relative expensive and low quality shoes..

How a poor family can afford this expense?

And, IMHO, but just mine, uniforms at school are so much North Korea style...

I'm with you on the uniform. I have three sons and they can't

share gym or scout or school uniforms as they have their

names embroidered on the bloody things.

The Thai's do like a uniform. The more the merrier.

[culicine]

"Study hours for Thai students are five times more than countries such as the US and Canada where students spend 600-700 hours in classes while Thai students 2,000-3,600 hours."

Lets look:

52 Weeks have a year.

12 weeks are vacation

40 weeks lectures * 5 days a week = 200 days

3600 / 200 = 18 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 2am after midnight)

2000 / 200 = 10 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 6pm)

average = 14 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 10pm)

average = 70 hours per week.

I do not know what they are doing in the classes, but I doubt the data base and the validity of data collection too.

In Ramkhamhaeng (the largest university in Bangkok) and generally in Bangkok,i see every day oodles of students on the streets,

- shopping, in cinemas, in restaurants and in the evening in discos and pubs.-

No way that they study day per day, spending 14 hours in classes.

20% of State Budget for education?

If this is true, than we have here maybe another rice school scam.

I think formal hours in high school are around 1000-1200 a year. I'm sure the extra hours are those taken by tutorial schools for after school classes - thus ensuring only the wealthy get ready access to tertiary education, as the formal school education, especially up country, is so poor.

[tingtongteesood]

I am assuming these numbers include the cost of all the broken tablet computers and the 'lost' money from that scheme too. Remove that and it is probably the same amount as everyone else...? Definitely something going wrong somewhere....

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies have been deleted along with inflammatory posts and posts with unsubstantiated information. Replies to those posts have also been deleted.

Please stay on topic.

[jimbeam1]

So American and Canadian kids study 3-4 hours a day whereas Thai kids study up to 18 hours?

Absolute tosh, and I therefore treat the whole article as such.

And they still don't have any idea what goes on in the world outside of Thailand, present or past.

jb1

[bushman1666]

With thai teachers withholding information in lieu of tutoring fees that thai students need to truly comprehend what they are taught this number is surprisingly low. That and the fact that thai students are not taught to think, evaluate, or surmise will keep the thais education level at a low level! Ignorance is bliss Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

From a brief experience of teaching I can see that thinking is not encouraged in LOS

[Suradit69]

"Study hours for Thai students are five times more than countries such as the US and Canada where students spend 600-700 hours in classes while Thai students 2,000-3,600 hours."

Lets look:

52 Weeks have a year.

12 weeks are vacation

40 weeks lectures * 5 days a week = 200 days

3600 / 200 = 18 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 2am after midnight)

2000 / 200 = 10 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 6pm)

average = 14 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 10pm)

average = 70 hours per week.

I do not know what they are doing in the classes, but I doubt the data base and the validity of data collection too.

In Ramkhamhaeng (the largest university in Bangkok) and generally in Bangkok,i see every day oodles of students on the streets,

- shopping, in cinemas, in restaurants and in the evening in discos and pubs.-

No way that they study day per day, spending 14 hours in classes.

20% of State Budget for education?

If this is true, than we have here maybe another rice school scam.

Or more simply. 3600 hours per year would be 9.86 hours per day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Hopefully the figures were concocted by the reporter

"Thailand's educational spending highest in the world"

I'm not sure where this claim is coming from either. Baht 35,000 per year would only be a bit more than US$1000.

Spending for elementary and high schools across the 50 states and Washington, D.C. averaged $10,560 per pupil in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/05/21/public-spending-per-student-drops/

[DGIE]

"Study hours for Thai students are five times more than countries such as the US and Canada where students spend 600-700 hours in classes while Thai students 2,000-3,600 hours."

Lets look:

52 Weeks have a year.

12 weeks are vacation

40 weeks lectures * 5 days a week = 200 days

3600 / 200 = 18 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 2am after midnight)

2000 / 200 = 10 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 6pm)

average = 14 hours per day spend in classes (from 8am morning to 10pm)

average = 70 hours per week.

I do not know what they are doing in the classes, but I doubt the data base and the validity of data collection too.

In Ramkhamhaeng (the largest university in Bangkok) and generally in Bangkok,i see every day oodles of students on the streets,

- shopping, in cinemas, in restaurants and in the evening in discos and pubs.-

No way that they study day per day, spending 14 hours in classes.

20% of State Budget for education?

If this is true, than we have here maybe another rice school scam.

and according to my friend who is a student in Ramkhamhaeng University, they can take a degree they want by enrolling/paying it even without attending their classes. They just need to take the exam.

So, what do they expect from the students to learn if they don't attend classes?

And those attending are not paying attention to their instructor/professor. They keep busy with their mirror and act as hairdresser for themselves.