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In his Reflections (BP, Jan 4), Pichai Chuensuksawadi touches on many salient points about the need for educational reform in Thailand, but none more salient than those towards the end of his column, in which he discusses the need for an emphasis on English language training and good teachers.
In the first instance Thailand must start producing its own teachers of the English language who are professional and competent to teach English to their fellow Thai students as a foreign language.
At the moment, in my experience, too many Thai English-language teachers can barely speak English themselves, let alone being let loose to teach it to their acquiescent students.
There should be an intensive programme to improve the skills of Thai English teachers with the aim of reducing the reliance on so-called native English-speaking teachers.
There are many highly qualified and professional native English-speaking teachers dedicatedly working at all levels of the educational system in Thailand, and I do not mean to demean their professionalism or their integrity. But at the same time there are many backpacking Khao San Road degree-holder charlatans who are working in Thailand under false premises and undermining the system. They may speak English, but they cannot effectively teach it.
The aim must be to replace them with trained and professional Thai English teachers.
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