Somtawin ejecting kids with late paying parents

[buksida]

idiots that have brought children here and can't afford them to be educated.

Bit of an idiotic comment that one, what about those that have had their children here and work in Thailand earning baht or have seen their financial situation change? I suppose they are idiots too and don't deserve to have their kids educated.

[dozer]

With the current worldwide economic downturn and the strong Baht, I would imagine there are quite a few families here who are struggling.
However the children of a European/Thai relationship are fortunate that they can fall back on the state funded education systems.
It is up to the parent to decide whether they are willing to sacrifice their lifestyle here and return to Europe and therein lays the problem.

[E-Dork]

I'm sorry but we aint exactly talking about a lot of money here for crying out loud..... what monthly payments must be all 10,000+ baht..... about 200 quid for fecks sake. I know economy is pretty shitty right now but I mean come on.... 200 quid! Can you afford to buy your kids a pair of shoes.... that new computer console must be out the window..... taking up a musical instruments a no go...... interested in sport... forget it with the prices of those shin pads..... jeez. Your kid must be 'avin a blast.

As I said before, a bin man could come up with that sort of cash..... how low on the ladder of society are we talking about here guy's.

[poosmate]

a bin man could come up with that sort of cash.

Binman 10000 Baht Per month? Farrang excluded from this profession.

Farrang Teacher Somtawin school 35000 Baht per month.

how low on the ladder of society are we talking about here guy's.

[dozer]

If the parent cannot earn a decent living here, then he/she really needs to put his/her lifestyle choices to one side and take their children to their homeland. Where the parent can either work or claim benefit and the children can get an education.

[Super Joe]

Hi, our son currently attends Yamsaard school, and whilst we are generally happy with the standards there we are more than interested in any free education programs. However, in reading this thread it appears that the school has established some kind of precedent, with their recent actions.

My wife and I really hope this is only a temporary measure, which will shortly be lifted, as otherwise we fail to see how we, and others for that matter, can take advantage of this situation.

We would appreciate it if any of the parents could update this thread should the school's management decide to initiate a free for all. We understand that the quality of education and service will inevietably drop, but this is not our primary concern.

Best Regards,
SJ

[buksida]

As I said before, a bin man could come up with that sort of cash..... how low on the ladder of society are we talking about here guy's.

Your generalizations are getting more stupid by the minute, this one assuming that there is only one child in question - many (including myself) have several and having to stump up around 500 quid a month (for two) is more than any binman could afford. Agree with the lifestyle comment though, as a parent one must get their priorities right and the child's welfare must come first.

Anyway, the topic is on Somtawin, their payment policies, and the expulsion of pupils - not the cost of an education in Hua Hin.

Out of curiosity does Yamsaard have the same policies as Somtawin regarding monthly payments and kicking the kids out?

[E-Dork]

So Buksi, when you decided to have more than one kid here (and any others for that fact) you were unaware that there was a fee that needed to be paid at decent schools in Thailand were you? If ya can't afford Somtawin's pretty reasonable prices (and as you are all well aware I am no big fan of Somtawin so no Biase here) then how in the hell are you gonna put your kids through a decent university?

Sorry, this is a real sour point for me and you won't see me budge on my stance. I can't stand seeing people pop out kids when they obviously can't give 'em a decent upbringing. The real argument on this thread was people whinging that there kids are being thrown out because they haven't paid their fee's........ if ya can't see the sheer stupidity of that argument then, well.......... nothing I say is going to get through any sawdust I'm afraid.

A very spot on comment was made earlier by dozer that if ya can't bring ya kids up properly here then why not go back home where they WILL get a decent education.

[dozer]

There seems to be a fundamental lack of foresight on the part of many Farang here and it is such a shame that the children must suffer.

[buksida]

So Buksi, when you decided to have more than one kid here (and any others for that fact) you were unaware that there was a fee that needed to be paid at decent schools in Thailand were you?

I certainly was aware of the fees required at these "mediocre" Hua Hin schools, and yes, in the grand scheme of things they are not that expensive - the real international schools in Bangkok are, I am also aware of that. My argument is that nobody knows what the future holds at any given time so ones financial situation on the birthday of their offspring may not be the same 5 or 10 years down the line. From what you're saying it seems that only the well off deserve to have children ... try telling that to 95% of the planet's population - everyone's situation is different and people don't come off a production line.

Poosmate makes a good argument that the school and PTA could be trying to assist parents instead of punishing the child. My two are still in kindergarten, hence the interest in this thread as Somtawin is one of my upcoming options, along with Yamsaard.

[Norseman]

Yea, that's the spirit guys.
If you don't like it here - go home. (Never heard that before).
I.E. if you can't dig up some BIG money somehow, for the best of your children, you'd better leave this country because nobody cares.

I'd say; what a wonderful world.
Good thought but by all means, but let the guys with the money rule the world.
Who cares about education?

Maybe this is why South East Asia will remain poor while the rest of the so-called WESTERN world is going nowhere?

Isn't education one of the human rights?
The answer is no and back to business.

Sounds good!

[Frank Hovis]

Isn't education one of the human rights?
The answer is no and back to business.

The answer is 'Yes' and described by Article 26 of the Declaration of Basic Human Rights. "Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory"
In Thailand 12 years of education is provided free by the government, nine of those years are mandatory.
Thailand should be rightly proud that it meets the requirements laid down by article 26, including section 3 which states "Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children."

It is section 3 that puts the onus on parents to ensure that when they leave the state funded education system that it is they themselves who have the responsibility to meet the requirements of sections 1 & 2 for their children. If they cannot do that then they must revert to state funded education until such times as they have met a particular countries mandatory educational requirements.

Non-Thai national children can go to state funded schools for free providing that the visa requirements are met; this is similar to most other countries.
Education over and above that described by Article 26 need not be free nor compulsory.
For people who don't want to follow the Thai curriculum in a state funded school they have the choice to provide for their childs education either via a fee-paying school or some other means approved by the Ministry of Education.

It's all quite simple really, just as in most countries, if you want your child to have a state education you do not have to pay for it directly (as it's paid via national funding from taxation), if you want your child to have a non-state education you, more than likely, have to pay for it directly.

[Norseman]

Very well Mr Hovis.
One child = around 10.000 B/mth.
A teachers wage = around 35.000 B/mth
Shouldn't 4 pupils be enough to pay the teachers cost for a month because it's a surplus of 5000 baht.
I strongly believe there are more than four pupils in any class at Somtawin.

[T.John]

Somtawin is a private school and therefore does not get any funding from the government. they need the payments most likely on time to be able to keep running, pay teacher's salaries, legal work, bills etc etc. It is only fair and reasonable that people need to pay on time.
Unfortunately, governmental Thai schools , though very cheap are not the best for farang kids (if they want to maintain an international level) There is also not that much choice in Hua Hin. In Bangkok there are a lot more choices, but they are also very expensive, some are 2 0r 3 times as much. Not to mention, application fees that are non-refundable, registrationfees , campus development fee , transportation etc.You name it, and the figures go into the hundreds of thousands baht even before your child sets foot in the school. At least compared to some of the international schools in Bangkok or Phuket Somtawin is more medium priced.
I think people need to go by what they can afford.Education (on an international level ) is expensive in Thailand. I heard Salesian opened a department with an English program, maybe that is a cheaper more affordable choice for those who can't afford Somtawin, or Yaam sa art.?It is not the ideal, but that's life, otherwise maybe the better choice is (if that is possible) return to the Uk /or other western country if they provide education for free /cheap'

[Frank Hovis]

The cost of education at non-state funded schools has nothing to do with Human Rights, my response was to make it clear that free education is available to everyone that meets the requirements of the state. Once a parent chooses not to use that service then they must provide for their own childs education while staying within the parameters laid out in Article 26.

I'm afraid I cannot respond directly to your question as I don't know what teachers salaries are at Somtawin.
My children go to Somtawin so I do know that Kindergarten have two teachers per class, the primary school has homeroom/grade teachers plus specialist subject teachers, secondary has specialist subject teachers for most subjects and then there are the standard business costs of taxation, administration, insurance, maintenance, accounting, utilities, etc. It's not quite as simple as dividing teachers salaries by number of pupils and pocketing the difference as profit.

I don't know whether the business is making a profit or not. I certainly hope they are making a profit because a loss making business will not be investing in improving the school and if it is losing money and continues to do so it may not continue as a viable entity at all. That would leave parents with an even smaller choice of English speaking schools in the region and less competition between them which I doubt would benefit any of our children.