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Published on January 27, 2008

 An important part of the ongoing education reform is the gradual adjustment of salaries and allowances linked to professional competence and specialised responsibilities, which is aimed at improving the socio-economic standing of government-employed teachers relative to members of other professions, and to keep them motivated.

The rationale is that teachers are at the forefront of the effort to transform the country's outdated, inefficient and poorly-run educational system into a progressive, adaptable and well-functioning one. As such they deserve to make a decent living that is commensurate with their dedication in educating the young.

Because of the pre-existing wide gap between remuneration of private-sector employees and civil servants, including government schoolteachers, it will take some time to narrow the discrepancies in pay. But most teachers are now being relieved of the lack of financial security and precarious existence they had endured.

But one thing that continues to stick out like a sore thumb is the grotesquely poor working conditions. According to Teachers Watch, a research body, a typical government schoolteacher puts in 21 hours of teaching per week and is also expected to put in extra hours to do administrative work, handle office chores and organise extracurricular activities for pupils.

To make the matter worse, too many dysfunctional parents do not know how to raise their children properly at home and see school as a dumping ground for their misbehaving children, who not only arrive at school unready to learn but also weigh down the whole class. That's why teachers have to also serve as social workers, spending a lot of their time solving problems between pupils and their parents. This leaves them little time to prepare for their classes, get a good rest after a hard day's work, or spend time with their families. Worse, they are forced to work with far more students than the standard ratio set by the Education Ministry of one teacher for every 40 pupils.

In many suburban Bangkok schools the number of pupils in each class is over 50, which makes it virtually impossible for teachers to take good care of every one of them, compromising the quality of education being delivered. In schools where administrators fail to set high academic standards, teachers are also burdened with laggards whose educational attainments are far below the expected level.

It is therefore good news that the outgoing Surayud Cabinet earlier this month approved new guidelines on government schoolteachers' working conditions that fix the maximum hours of teaching at 18 per week and a strict teacher-pupil ratio of 1:40. But the government failed to make clear that the teacher-pupil ratio should specifically refer to class size - not simply the total number of pupils divided by the total number of teachers. This is because many teachers in most government schools are still being asked to perform administrative and non-teaching duties, which can easily cause the actual teacher-pupil ratio to exceed 1:40, if not also increase the size of classes beyond manageable levels.

The incoming government must continue to pay attention to these problems as well as sustain the momentum of the education reform if its ultimate goal is an education system that will produce citizens who can contribute to and engage effectively in a market-driven, global economy at a high level of competitiveness.

Pushing education reform is a tough job, as was made evident by the experience of previous governments.

Even at this late stage of education reform, the majority of schoolteachers still remain confused as to the direction it is headed. Obviously, the lack of progress can also be blamed on stiff resistance from teachers who are worried about drastic changes and would rather stick to the familiar, corruption-prone bureaucratic system.

It is hoped that the recent salary adjustment, coupled with improvements in working conditions, will help improve the lot of teachers and motivate them to be more innovative in their techniques and adopt the new student-centred learning approach.

The Nation