Fix English education

Re: “Blind leading blind”, (PostBag, Nov 7).

There is no doubt that the Ministry of Education has no inclination to introduce English as an alternate medium of instruction in Thai elementary schools and beyond.

Should English teaching jobs become more difficult in Thailand? Absolutely. the reasons are obvious. Thai policymakers only provide lip service for reforming their legacy curriculum focused on history, language, culture, and identity. In addition, Thai teachers who received their education in local universities lack skills to implement the English language curriculum effectively. Needless to say that most teacher training programmes being offered in Thai universities are substandard. Hence, students enrolled in English language programmes will need mentoring and consistent coaching from foreign faculty to improve their skills.

We can go back and learn something from the 2018 incident of a junior football team trapped in Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai province. No matter how much resources Thailand may have, only highly skilled and trained professionals can bring positive outcomes. We can clearly see the importance of skills and appreciate their role in the rescue operations. Teaching and learning of the English language in Thailand also require a similar large-scale rescue operation. But while the tasks of rescuing the Thai educational system seem daunting, numerous tools and strategies do exist to support those who want to improve the system. Thai private universities should collectively introduce new English teacher training programmes which focus on intense English language training and classroom teaching. The social attitude about learning English must also change.

KULDEEP NAGI