A 100 million baht
budget has been set aside for about 1,100 teachers to take part in English
language training in English-speaking countries during the upcoming summer
vacation.
Deputy Education Minister Sakda Kongpet yesterday said 1,137 teachers
across the country would be chosen to take part in the training in the United
Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
"This move is aimed at preparing them for the Asean Economic
Community [AEC]," he said.
Sakda said 675 would be selected from teachers under the Office of
Basic Education Commission's supervision, or three from each educational
service area office; 231 would be chosen among teachers under the supervision
of the Office of Vocational Education Commis-sion, also three from each pro-vince;
and the remaining 231 would be selected under the Office of Non-Formal and
Informal Education, again three per province.
"They will have to travel abroad in April and will be trained for
a month. The teachers will have to stay with host families in those countries.
The Education Ministry will select the host families for them. Each of them
will be given 100,000 baht to pay for expenses while staying in the foreign
countries, but they have to pay for their air fares," he added.
Sakda said the project would also offer exchange opportunities for
those countries to send their teachers to stay with host families in Thailand
in order to enhance their language capability.
In a wider move, the ministry will provide 30-hour English language
training to people in other occupations. It targets training more than 4
million people in total ahead of the AEC's implementation in 2015.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Suchart Tadathamrongvej is encouraging
schools to seek eligible English-speaking foreigners to teach English, with the
ministry giving them 10,000 baht per month to hire each teacher.
The minister said schools should not wait for the ministry to search
for foreign teachers, as he wanted them to make direct contact with
"sister" schools in English-speaking countries.
After they find eligible foreign teachers, they have to report the
number to the Office of Basic Education Commission, the Office of the Education
Council and the Office of Non-Formal and Informal Education in order for the
ministry to set the overall budget for hiring them.
Suchart added that he would help ease the regulations concerning the
need for licences for foreign teachers.
Supina Na Mahachai
The Nation
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