After cruising around Hua Hin for some years and being particularly interested in the Education scene, I am amazed by the number of unlicensed schools offering English classes (mostly with a Thai teachers).
Also surprised seeing a licenced school now offering Norwegian course (with a Thai teacher) and the school not having a licence to teach Norwegian.
Have noted also a number of foreigners offering private language courses at their homes (one also in Starbucks). Aren't these people aware that they need a Work Permit or are just hoping they will not get caught. Only needs just one dissatisfied customer or a jealous rival to report them to the Tourist Police.
Lack of surviellance by Ministry of Education
Re: Lack of surviellance by Ministry of Education
There is much money to be made here in the education industry as parents & people in general consider it 'the be-all-and-end-all' of everything and no expense is spared to try to get ahead...so obviously there are going to be those that abuse the rules and take the risks.
Punishment is relative to enforcement here, and many know that the latter is often absent, unless there is 3rd party stimulus to act on the cops or gain to be gotten from such action for some reason like appearing to be actively doing their jobs due to a new boss being around or Bangkok HQ has decreed so and the spotlight is on an area or issue.
Also, there are simply too many offenders that they cannot all be brought to book so a crackdown every now and then keeps a lid on things in a managable way. Many Thais that run these sort of borderline schools or operations will have enough connections to ride it through and be left alone....foreign run ones need to be much careful and usually are the ones that are made an example of as their is little, if any, blowback from influential Thais for the cops and they look good for doing their jobs.
What you say is not much different than saying "Why is it only 7-11, the big malls, Tesco etc. that abide by the alcohol laws here? Don't Mom & Pop shops know you can't sell alcohol from 2-5 pm?"
The Thai cops are very reluctant to come down on other Thais attempting to make money in a reasonable and not too much of a dodgy way. A Mom & Pop shop skirting the selling times a bit or whatever isn't a big issue to them and everyone does it. Language schools (and other likewise businesses) skimming the rules on things are given a long leash too....other than WPs for foreign teachers these days.
It's massively more strict now than it has ever been on these subjects but there are still those that flaunt it for the potential rewards plus the 'it won't happen to me attitude' or the make a quick buck, close and re-open again later or just disappear. Also, many of these teachers will be transient and just be passing through anyhow.....gone as quickly as they turn up.
Foreigners teaching privately do need to be careful because strictly speaking you need to get an additional stamp (address of place) in your WP book for any other teaching you do apart from where you are officially allowed to teach. This is technically what you should do and it's true that if you don't get the extra stamp then you are potentially open to get busted but I've not seen it enforced ever (even though some must have fallen foul of it somewhere, seems generally fairly lax on this one).
The Ministry of Education is also a bureacractic unwieldy monster that finds it hard to get anthing done, let alone implement any desperately needed change upon itself, and mainly controls foreign teachers through the teacher license regulations as individual schools still hold a lot of power and 'say-so' in what happens & who works for them. This license only applies to those who wish to teach at elementary and high schools and not to higher education establishments. What you are talking about is a law enforcement issue so it's in the cops 'to do tray' and the ministry would have to request such action from the cops to make things happen.
Industry regulation (of any type) is thin on the ground here and in many Asian countries as they grapple with the break-neck speed of developement they are enduring (and have in the past) to get into the modern world. Of course many things will be skimped on.
And, also worth remembering that the cops here are mainly reactive/opportunist and not pro-active as they are in the western nations......apart from on a few subjects like drugs, keeping those from neighbouring countries being/working here in line with what they (Thais) want and see fit to happen, a certain topic is in the news or something that has become politically sensitive (read face-losing) like human trafficing has become at the minute in order to get themselves removed from the lowest tier of the US annual report.....see the effort being made on that one.
This sort of thing that you bring up has a lot to it to answer and clear up. This is Asia and things work very differently here for a whole bunch of reasons.....but they work in a way acceptable to the locals even if appearing mysterious and sometimes duplicitous to those from outside.
Punishment is relative to enforcement here, and many know that the latter is often absent, unless there is 3rd party stimulus to act on the cops or gain to be gotten from such action for some reason like appearing to be actively doing their jobs due to a new boss being around or Bangkok HQ has decreed so and the spotlight is on an area or issue.
Also, there are simply too many offenders that they cannot all be brought to book so a crackdown every now and then keeps a lid on things in a managable way. Many Thais that run these sort of borderline schools or operations will have enough connections to ride it through and be left alone....foreign run ones need to be much careful and usually are the ones that are made an example of as their is little, if any, blowback from influential Thais for the cops and they look good for doing their jobs.
What you say is not much different than saying "Why is it only 7-11, the big malls, Tesco etc. that abide by the alcohol laws here? Don't Mom & Pop shops know you can't sell alcohol from 2-5 pm?"
The Thai cops are very reluctant to come down on other Thais attempting to make money in a reasonable and not too much of a dodgy way. A Mom & Pop shop skirting the selling times a bit or whatever isn't a big issue to them and everyone does it. Language schools (and other likewise businesses) skimming the rules on things are given a long leash too....other than WPs for foreign teachers these days.
It's massively more strict now than it has ever been on these subjects but there are still those that flaunt it for the potential rewards plus the 'it won't happen to me attitude' or the make a quick buck, close and re-open again later or just disappear. Also, many of these teachers will be transient and just be passing through anyhow.....gone as quickly as they turn up.
Foreigners teaching privately do need to be careful because strictly speaking you need to get an additional stamp (address of place) in your WP book for any other teaching you do apart from where you are officially allowed to teach. This is technically what you should do and it's true that if you don't get the extra stamp then you are potentially open to get busted but I've not seen it enforced ever (even though some must have fallen foul of it somewhere, seems generally fairly lax on this one).
The Ministry of Education is also a bureacractic unwieldy monster that finds it hard to get anthing done, let alone implement any desperately needed change upon itself, and mainly controls foreign teachers through the teacher license regulations as individual schools still hold a lot of power and 'say-so' in what happens & who works for them. This license only applies to those who wish to teach at elementary and high schools and not to higher education establishments. What you are talking about is a law enforcement issue so it's in the cops 'to do tray' and the ministry would have to request such action from the cops to make things happen.
Industry regulation (of any type) is thin on the ground here and in many Asian countries as they grapple with the break-neck speed of developement they are enduring (and have in the past) to get into the modern world. Of course many things will be skimped on.
And, also worth remembering that the cops here are mainly reactive/opportunist and not pro-active as they are in the western nations......apart from on a few subjects like drugs, keeping those from neighbouring countries being/working here in line with what they (Thais) want and see fit to happen, a certain topic is in the news or something that has become politically sensitive (read face-losing) like human trafficing has become at the minute in order to get themselves removed from the lowest tier of the US annual report.....see the effort being made on that one.
This sort of thing that you bring up has a lot to it to answer and clear up. This is Asia and things work very differently here for a whole bunch of reasons.....but they work in a way acceptable to the locals even if appearing mysterious and sometimes duplicitous to those from outside.
Resolve dissolves in alcohol
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Re: Lack of surviellance by Ministry of Education
Thailand is the English teachers Mecca.Spitfire wrote:Also, there are simply too many offenders that they cannot all be brought to book
