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Published on September 15, 2007

The statistics showed that about 50,000 basic-education teachers had retired during the five-year period.

Education Minister Wijit Srisaan said he had called executives of the five main commissions under the ministry to discuss whether or not the ministry should join the early-retirement scheme next year.

At the meeting, the Basic Education Commission (BEC) presented statistics indicating that 56,180 teachers had participated in the four early-retirement schemes from 2000 to 2005, in addition to 15,000 teachers who had retired as natural attrition during the same period. Thus the period saw a total of 71,282 basic education teachers leaving the service, Wijit said.

The BEC, however, filled only 19,069 positions, about 26 per cent of those lost, to replace the retirees of that period, he said, pointing out that the shortage of basic-education teachers - about 70,000 teachers and which remained unsolved - resulted from the four early-retirement schemes.

The BEC analysis further revealed that there were about 90,000 teachers under its supervision who qualified for the early-retirement scheme next year.

If each received payout at the rate of 15 times the salary, it would cost Bt42 billion, Wijit said, whereas if they worked until their natural retirement age of 60, the government would be spending about Bt39 billion on their salaries, he added.

However, other commissions did not present data like the BEC, hence a committee was assigned to gather the big picture from all agencies under the ministry, with analysis and suggestions as to whether the ministry should join the scheme next year.

The committee would have two months to work, Wijit said, suggesting that judging from the BEC information it would not be hard to make a decision, although he would not jump to conclusions pending further information.

He also hoped to get this done before his term ended.

The Nation