Private schools suffer shortage of teachers

[Admin]

Private schools suffer shortage of teachers
Published: 5/07/2011 at 12:00 AM
Bangkok Post: Newspaper section: News
 
More than half of the country's private schools are suffering teacher shortages due to government schools attracting more staff.

Of some 3,600 private primary and secondary schools nationwide, up to 2,000 have reported shortages, said Jirapan Pimpan, president of the Private Education Council of Thailand yesterday.

Ms Jirapan recently raised the problem for discussion at a monthly meeting of Education Ministry executives in a bid to find a solution to the problem.

Ms Jirapan said the teacher shortage in private schools was a serious problem as many teachers took state jobs instead after passing their teaching exams.

She said the exam results are normally announced after most private schools finished their classroom management courses in order to prepare for the start of the new academic year each May.

Private school teachers who passed their exams often have no qualms in quitting their schools in order to pursue state jobs, leaving administrators scrambling to replace them, she said.

However, she said most private school administrators were unable to recruit new teachers to fill vacant positions before the start of each new semester, saying many of them instead had to help the remaining teachers who were faced with increased workloads.

"The [teacher shortage] problem must be swiftly resolved or it will affect the country's quality of education," said Ms Jirapan.

She added that the increasing number of teachers retiring each year and the Teachers Council of Thailand's regulation not to issue teaching licences to graduates with bachelor's degrees in specific fields such as engineering and mathematics could also be factors contributing to the teacher shortage.

[isanbirder]

Private schools have to balance their budgets, so there is a limit on what they can pay in salaries, let alone pension rights.  State schools give job security as well as better benefits.

[Puba]

Private schools have to balance their budgets, so there is a limit on what they can pay in salaries, let alone pension rights.  State schools give job security as well as better benefits.

Most teachers prefer to teach at government schools, The one near us pay low salary but gives everything free like, housing, food, transportation, loan with zero interest, paid travel and many other things at free cost which private schools can't handle beside retirement pensions.