Teachers to spend more time with their pupils

EDUCATION

The government has promised school children a host of education freebies this week, from tuition fees to uniforms, and yesterday it threw in the added pledge of dedicated teachers.

Education Minister Jurin Laksanavisit introduced the "return teachers to students" project to a meeting at the Teachers' Council of Thailand on the eve of Teachers' Day today and said it was a government priority to ensure teachers spend more time with their students.

"The idea is to free teachers of unnecessary burdens and routine jobs such as administrative work, paperwork and accounting so they can devote more time to teaching," Mr Jurin said.

He would look into the possibility of seeking government funding to employ jobless graduates to carry out administrative tasks for teachers.

This could help ease the unemployment problem involving about 500,000 new graduates who are expected to be jobless this year due to the economic slump hitting the country, Mr Jurin said.

Teachers do not have a very good image, at least among people in Bangkok and surrounding provinces, according to an Abac poll released yesterday.

The survey found 62% of people questioned said they were finding it more difficult to find teachers who are totally dedicated to their students.

Some 64% said teachers' moral integrity was on the decline, whereas 68% said teachers these days were more concerned about money.

The survey polled 1,344 people aged 18 years and older in Bangkok and surrounding areas on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The project to return teachers to classrooms is part of several measures to lift the standards of teachers and improve their quality of life amid mounting public concern that many teachers are not sufficiently committed to their students.

The minister said the government would push ahead with its education reform policy aimed at upgrading the standard of teachers and giving their morale a much-needed boost.

Mr Jurin said a central institute would be established to set standards for the development of teachers and education personnel across the country.

He said the development of teaching quality had lacked a clear direction and uniformity.

There have been too many education institutes each with their own way of developing teachers, Mr Jurin said.

When the new institute is in place, it will ensure a consistent approach and will also be responsible for developing standard training courses for teachers.

To boost teachers' morale, a fund would be set up to improve their quality of life, Mr Jurin said.

He has assigned the Teachers and Education Personnel Welfare and Security Bureau to work out a suitable format for the fund.

Mr Jurin confirmed the government would implement measures to reduce the teachers' debt burden, including a debt-restructuring plan, the extension of debt repayment terms, interest rate cuts or a debt moratorium.