Tour guide education criteria lowered to overcome shortage

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Tour guide education criteria lowered

Published: 25 Feb 2013 at 13.35
Online news: Local News

The government committee on tourism problems has approved in principle a proposal to lower the minimum education level needed to become a tour guide to Grade 9.

The current minimum requirement is a bachelor's degree.

Anuparb Gaysornsuwan, acting director-general of the Department of Tourism, said on Monday that the requirement needed to be lowered because of the shortage of guides for foreign tourists.

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bkk-farang
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Discussion 16 : 25 Feb 2013 at 20.1516
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What about all the tuk-tuk drivers who play tour guides? Are there any education requirements for them? And how about all the cheating Taxi-No-Meter drivers?
It would be very easy to get a higher tour guide standard. Just arrest all the people who regularly and deliberately cheat tourist – or are there some influential people involved who profit from these unofficial “tour guides”?
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OldThaiHand
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Discussion 15 : 25 Feb 2013 at 20.0615
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This should be interesting as the tour guide course taught at Silpakorn U. costs 20,000 Baht, if I remember correctly and is extremely tough to pass.

How is someone with Mor 3 going to manage that?
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bertkok
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Discussion 14 : 25 Feb 2013 at 20.0514
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Why are so many people obsessed wit paper degrees? Just because you happen to have paid for and received a degree certificate from a university doesn't mean you have a brain that works better than someone who hasn't been to university. There are hundreds of VERY successful business people who didn't complete or even go to university. to name a few: Sir Richard Branson, Vidal Sassoon, Theodore Waitt, and Abraham Lincoln. If you don't know who they are, look them up.
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Birdie
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Discussion 13 : 25 Feb 2013 at 19.5913
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I have never met a very good English speaking guide all my life in Thailand. I could not imagine what kind of quality these grade 9 guides is able to produce. Apart from Khun Surin, Abhisit or Korn, Thailand or the world have not heard of good English on the global platform. Is an embarrassing idea that the government id preparing this for AEC?
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The Dark Side
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Discussion 12 : 25 Feb 2013 at 18.1912
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Geez! A Thai bachelors is the equivalent of about grade 12 in the West and a Grade 9 is about that of a child graduating from elementary school. What drugs are those in charge of TAT taking. It is obviously effecting their mental process. As it is now tour guides are worthless most of the time. Well now we can count of one thing. Tour guides will be worthless all of the time. I tell my friends to ignore Thailand and visit Malaysia anyway. They will have a much better holiday!
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rfukata
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Discussion 11 : 25 Feb 2013 at 17.3411
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9th grade level is calling it a desperate move, I would think tour guides should have at least completed
high school grade 12, with a little bit of common sense and responsibilities.
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3rivers
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Discussion 10 : 25 Feb 2013 at 17.3210
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What I don't understand at all is why there seems to be only one standard. There are two completely different systems at both the secondary level and university, one public and one private. The requirement level for a private school graduate would be Grade 2.
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RonBargie
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Discussion 9 : 25 Feb 2013 at 17.199
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"He said people eligible to apply for a tour guide licence under the new critieria must work for a tour agency or as a tour guide's assistant. This would prevent tourists being exploited." Tourists won't be exploited? That's not the Thai way!
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jacksprat
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Discussion 8 : 25 Feb 2013 at 17.138
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A requirement for university degree makes no sense, but a knowledge based test to become a tour guide certainly does. A Thai friend who is a certified tour guide told me that getting a licence was tough. It should be.
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ubuntu
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Discussion 7 : 25 Feb 2013 at 16.297
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Bachelors downgraded to 9th grade.

By the same token theres no minimum education standard for expats to reside in thailand either. ( that I know about)
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Tour guide education criteria lowered to overcome shortage | Bangkok Post: news