6th February 2019 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The public school system in Thailand is considered inadequate to prepare students for university and, as a result, is fuelling a growing tutoring industry. Reported on the Bangkok Post’s website, the tuition industry in Thailand has grown to over 10 billion-baht (over £200 million), involving 500,000 students.
Getting a university place in Thailand is 20% dependent on a student’s high school GPA and 80% on standardised exams. These exams are the reason that so many students seek a tutor; they are very competitive. The competition means that often students select a university course based on the likelihood of winning a place, rather than what they actually want to study. Medicine and engineering require the highest exams scores, while teaching requires the lowest.
The poor perception of the teaching profession in Thailand is a circular problem; the profession attracts few high quality students which leads to a poorly performing schools so students receive private tutoring. Good teachers then leave schools to become tutors where they have more respect and a higher salary. This may be fine for those students who can afford a tutor, but poorer students or anyone living outside of Bangkok, where more than half of tutoring takes place, it means learning in an increasingly poor school system.
There is another problem as students focus on their work with tutors, rather than their lessons at school. Students have become dependent on a tutoring system where they don’t have to learn for themselves. Study skills have been lost to an extent and students report still feeling like they need a tutor throughout university.