Published on April 4, 2011
The Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) has caused
a stir by floating the idea of paying native English teachers up to
Bt83,000 a month in a bid to boost students' proficiency in the
language.
While it's great that Obec has finally exercised its power to strive for change,
it is worrying that the office does not seem to have everything ready to back
up its ambitions.
It plans to attract young graduates with teaching degrees or former teachers
in retirement from the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand,
India and the Philippines.
"We will offer them a one-year contract and send them to top schools at
district levels," Obec secretary-general Dr Chinnapat Phumirat disclosed.
He said his agency planned to hire just 300 native speakers in the first year of
the initiative, which is expected to start in October.
"Then, we will gradually increase the number of native-speaker teachers to
1,000 within five years. They will then be assigned to a wider range of Obec
schools," Chinnapat said.
If Obec manages to win Cabinet approval for its ambitious plan, it will have to
spend up to Bt350 million in a year to hire 300 native speakers alone.
Does Obec need to pay that much?
It is true that Thai students' command of English is not good on average,
according to various indicators. Still, Obec could spend money on providing
training to Thai teachers who may be able to teach grammar or English-
reading skills better. Native speakers should be assigned to focus on
equipping students with English listening and speaking skills.
The reason students' current level of English is not very high may be because
Obec has not provided an adequate number of qualified Thai teachers for
English classes. To date, only 5,000 teachers have graduated with an English-
teaching-for-primary-students major from their universities. On top of this,
thousands of schools have taught English without language labs at all.
Therefore, if Obec is going to spend a massive amount on hiring native
speakers, it should review whether some of the money would be better spent
elsewhere, such as for training Thai teachers or better teaching equipment.
And Obec has not floated its idea at the right time.
Switzerland-based EF Education First, the world leader in international
education, last week released the first comprehensive index ranking the
proficiency of English among a broad population in 44 countries and
territories around the world where English is not the native language.
Using a unique set of test data from over two million adults across 44
countries who took free online English tests over three years (2007-2009),
the index shows that Asia's performance was lower than expected, especially
in light of the amount spent on private English training.
The worst news is that of the 44 countries, Thailand is ranked 42nd in terms
of English proficiency. Thailand's score is only 39.41, against 69.09 for
Norway, which tops the list.
EF's English Proficiency Index also shows an interesting strong correlation
between a country's English ability and its national income per head. There
is also a high correlation with levels of education and export strength. With
higher income, governments are investing more in English training.
"In today's highly competitive global economy, English language proficiency
is a basic skill and has never been more important for the entire workforce,"
said Bill Fisher, president of EF's online-learning division, Englishtown.
Fisher added: "For developing countries to compete successfully in global
industries and capitalise on the business-outsourcing boom, the ability to
produce large numbers of skilled graduates who are able to communicate in
English must be a top priority."
Aware of the importance of English language skills, people are more than
willing to welcome Obec's move to hire more native speakers.
Obec is serious about this initiative because it wants to prepare Thais for the
Asean Economic Community, which is expected to become fully-fledged by
2015. The initiative by Obec will run until 2015 too.
If the initiative is successful, the number of fluent English speakers in
Thailand's workforce will increase in the future. Although some children in big
cities today are now fluent in English, their numbers account for less than 10
per cent of the child population nationwide.
If Thailand wishes to have an English-competent population to drive up its
economy, everyone should embrace the Obec initiative. The only thing is
that Obec should make sure it spends the budget efficiently and finds a way
to improve its Thai teachers and facilities too. Don't forget that the limited
English knowledge of most Thai students is not only due to the lack of native
speakers in the educational sector alone.
CHULARAT SAENGPASSA
THE NATION
Chularat@nationgroup.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SmartKurve Education Services and SmartKurve (Thailand) Company Limited. Together with an expert team of Information Technology and academic veterans, her vision is to establish an institution where world class education, knowledge and innovation meet; thus the company was founded from these following principals.
Edknovate Language Institute and Edknovate (Thailand) Company Limited. Together with an expert team of Information Technology and academic veterans, her vision is to establish an institution where world class education, knowledge and innovation meet; thus the company was founded from these following principals.
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