Pay rise for private school teachers

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Pay rise for private school teachers

Supinda Na Mahachai
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Cabinet yesterday agreed in principle to increase the monthly incomes of teachers at private schools to Bt15,000.

Also, the Cabinet gave a green light to the resumption of the Income Contingent Loan (ICL) programme and agreed with the Education Ministry's proposal to change the name of the New-Breed Teacher project, Education Minister Suchart Tadathamrongvej said yesterday.

He said teachers at private schools who hold bachelor's degrees would receive Bt15,000 monthly income.

This measure would be effective from last January. To raise the incomes of 87,680 eligible teachers with an average salary of Bt10,428-Bt13,535, the ministry would increase payment of their living expenses so their monthly income would reach Bt15,000. This measure would require a Bt2.4-billion budget, but the Cabinet approved Bt1.2 billion to pay for the project. The private schools themselves would have to provide the remaining Bt1.2 billion.

The ministry also proposed increasing the salaries of newly recruited teachers at private schools to Bt11,680, which would require a budget of Bt695 million from January to September.

Suchart said the ICL programme would be implemented in educational programmes that face a shortage of students.

He added that he planned to replace the Student Loan Fund programme with the ICL programme.

According to Suchart, the New-Breed Teacher scheme would be renamed the Professional Teacher scheme.

The Nation 2012-05-02