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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 27, No. 12. 1964.

Lecturer Shortage

Lecturer Shortage

Another problem that we encounter in Thailand is the shortage of university lecturers as most of the lecturers in the five universities are part-time. Recently in Thammasat university, of 269 lecturers only seven were full-time—the other 262 were all part-time. The number of students at that time was over 20,000. The ratio of staff to students was thus 1 to 18.

Higher education is probably beneficial only to those students who are in Bangkok and can afford to pay the fees as well as other expenses which they will incur at University and to some country boys who can afford to live in Bangkok. A student is required to pass Madhayom Suksa 5 (equivalent to Sixth Form), but has to sit for a very highly competitive University Entrance Examination. There are a limited number of vacancies in universities. Only the brainiest or, in some rare cases, the luckiest person will survive.

The Thai Government is aware of this problem which is increasingly important to the development of the country. The national economic development plan goes with education planning like Siamese twins. In 1963 education took up 17.5 per cent of the total government expenditure. The educational plan is not concentrated in any particular field but covers all the aspects in education as a whole because the four educational levels are interrelated. Emphasis has especially been made in the training of skilled personnel e.g. skilled workers, administrators, teachers etc.

Higher education provides the country with educated people, highly qualified to work and govern various aspects of society. It makes possible the initiative in people's thoughts, which is a very important thing in a good democracy.