We created Thai Mueang Volunteers with the motivation of providing equal opportunity for all the children in our community. We are very aware of a large inconsistency between the schools in our area that have excess funding and those with little to none. Most often those schools with adequate resources receive significant amounts of money from outside sources, such as; the parents who have a larger income and can afford high tuition fees and company donations. For the other schools with students from families of a lower income bracket, it is not an option to pay extra tuition fees. This means that hiring a foreign teacher receiving a salary of 20-30,000 Baht a month is out of the question. All of the schools we deal with would otherwise not have the opportunity to obtain a foreign English teacher on their own and are missing out on a great learning opportunity.

The following is a budget for a period of one year, from Ban Thateang Primary School, one of the schools participating with Thai Mueang Volunteers. They receive a mere 1100 Baht per student and with only 52 students that only amounts to 57, 200 Baht a year. They pay approximately 30% of that, or 17 000 Baht to the running costs of the school like water, electricity, repairs and office supplies. That leaves only 40 000 Baht, 1250 American dollars, to pay for the rest of the student related costs like classroom supplies, books, computers and sports equipment, for a YEAR. That 40, 000 doesn’t cover the students needs and what ends up happening is the teacher’s paying out of their own pocket OR parents need to try and put together enough money to cover the costs. The government also only allows 4500 Baht for uniforms and divided by 52 students that means 86 Baht per child. A school uniform costs more than 400 Baht, and that does not even include the shoes. This is why you will often see children wearing the same torn uniform and shoes to school every day. There just is not enough money to adequately provide for these children’s education, let alone even think of bringing in a foreign teacher.

A newspaper article I recently read in the Bangkok Post backed up all the views that I have just expressed. It described a need for an extra 30 billion baht per year into the Thai school system to create a truly free education system, improve teaching standards and remove the financial liabilities on the schools and parents. Somkiat Chobphol, the commission deputy secretary-general, states, “The 12-year basic education program, which is supposed to be free, does not live up to its name. At present, parents have to pay money for all kinds of extras, such as school equipment charges. Government subsidies do not stretch for enough.”

(The full article “B30bn needed to improve education standards” written by Sirikul Bunnag, can be found in the Bangkok Post Archives – General News Section from February 1, 2008.)