Most school administrators are not good at English and information and communications technology, according to a recent evaluation.
Of the Bt560 million training budget for school administrators this year, there have been no courses yet for English and ICT. The courses so far have focused on improving the administrators' management skills only.
"We never knew that English and ICT are administrators' weak points," deputy secretarygeneral Saneh Khaoto said recently.
His office has appraised nearly 40,000 administrators in three areas - management skills, leadership, and English and ICT skills. The results show that the administrators have a fair level of management skills but limited knowledge of English or ICT.
Saneh said his office would consider giving English and ICT training courses to administrators next year.
The largescale evaluation of administrators and teachers was conducted recently as the Education Ministry has obtained a Bt2 billion budget for training this year. The budget came from the government's Thai Khemkhaeng stimulus package.
Already Bt678 million has been spent testing teachers' abilities. There are now more than 400,000 government schools in the country.
Teachers rated as "highly able" will receive training under a Bt201 million budget to become leading teachers in the future. Other teachers will receive training as well, but with different content. The training courses will range from five to 15 days.