Teachers seek Education Minister’s removal over new rule on licensing
Teachers and teacher trainers have launched a signature campaign against Education Minister Dr Teerakiat Jareonsettasin in an effort to kick him out of his post.
Supporters of the campaign gathered at the Burapha University on Sunday to push for Teerakiat’s ousting.
They plan to collect 50,000 signatures to back their petition that seeks to dislodge Teerakiat from the Education Ministry.
Teerakiat has enraged many teachers, university lecturers and educators by allowing people without teaching licences to apply for assistant-teacher posts.
At present, teachers study for five years at teacher-training institutes, including one year of training before they can apply for licences. But Teerakiat has backed a move to let university graduates from other fields, even without prior training, apply for teaching jobs.
If the applicants are successful candidates, they can then try to get teaching licences at a later date, according to the new rule that aims at solving the shortage of teachers in some fields.