Phuket celebrates National Teachers Day

PHUKET: Commuters who experienced an unexpected lull in the Phuket traffic chaos this morning can thank the fact that government schools across the island are closed for National Teachers Day today.

National Teachers Day falls on January 16 every year and is a day off for all teachers as well as their pupils. It is not to be confused with Wan Wai Khru (Teacher Appreciation Day), which falls in early June at the start of the new school year.

The Phuket Gazette would like to thank all teachers for their dedication and wish them all the best on their day off.

Meanwhile, a recent survey ahead of today’s school holiday found that teachers play a crucial role in the development of an “anti-corruption mentality” in children.

“Teachers are close to children. They can teach the children about ethics and honesty,” respondents said in a nationwide opinion poll conducted by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University for National Teachers Day.

To make children grow up into honest citizens, teachers must be living examples, said 73.3 per cent of the 1,422 respondents when asked about teachers’ role in preventing corruption.

Asked about their expectation of teachers’ role in corruption prevention, 21.9 per cent said teachers could make a “significant contribution” because of their commanding influence over their students.

Although other factors such as peers, family background, corruption news and media could influence children’s perceptions of corruption, 60.3 per cent said teachers could prevent corruption problems to a degree if they set a good example for children to emulate.

In another survey, teachers were given an overall grade of 7.85 points out of 10, based on 30 qualities of an excellent educator.

That score reflected essentially no improvement from 7.83 last year.

Suan Dusit Rajabhat University asked 8,194 people about their confidence in teachers according to their personality, ideology, ability, human-relations skills and other areas.

Asked about the strengths of teachers, 25.5 per cent replied “teaching ability and good knowledge of technology”, 23.2 per cent answered “patience and multi-tasking”; and 19.1 per cent mentioned “understanding of, and friendliness toward, children”.

About 17.5 per cent noted their interesting instructional techniques and 14.8 per cent their ability to develop IT-based teaching materials.

On honesty, teachers were rated at 7.91 out of 10.

As for weaknesses, leading an extravagant lifestyle and falling into debt were tops at 33.9 per cent, followed by losing their temper (17.0%) and not conveying love and warmth to children (15.3%).

Do you think teachers play a key role in steering our youth away from corrupt practices? Have your say by posting a comment in the Readers’ Forum below.

National reporting by Phuket Gazette partner publication The Nation.