Bt1.6 Billion Sought For Vocational: Thailand

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Bt1.6 Billion Sought For Vocational: Thailand

BANGKOK: -- More than Bt1.6 billion will be sought by the Office of Vocational Education Commission (Ovec) for the hiring of nearly 9,000 teachers for the 2013 academic year.

Secretarygeneral Chaipreuk Sereerak said 8,936 new teachers would be hired to cope with a longstanding shortage problem.

In addition to more manpower, vocational colleges also need more funds for teacher training. For example, many teachers are unable to instruct students how to fix flatscreen televisions even though the technology is widespread.

Vocational schools also lack instructional media and hitech equipment for teaching, Chaipreuk added.

Furthermore, most vocational students come from poor families and cannot afford to buy Bt2,000 worth of equipment for learning. Many end up dropping out, Chaipreuk said.

Ovec, which is creating a manpower plan for when the Asean Economic Community comes into effect in 2015, had earlier submitted a budget request for the hiring of teachers and to provide students with equipment, but was refused.

The Nation 2012-06-05