Thongbai Thongpao
I was invited last weekend to join a ceremony held in honour of the teachers at the public schools in Chaiyaphum who are to retire this month. Some 300 teachers in the northeastern province have completed their civil service this year, including those who sought early retirement.
The number is staggering, and if it is any guide, it can be estimated that no fewer than 20,000 teachers in all 76 provinces will enter into retirement this year. This means we will need to have quite a few people to replace them to keep up with the growing population.
For the military or police, a big cere mony is held each year to honour the outgoing officers. The officers still in service show their respect to the old warriors in recognition of their sacrifice and dedication. They are showered with memorable rhetoric, and parades and banquets are staged in their honour.
Teachers, however, especially those in the provinces, are not warriors, at least not in the strictest sense of the word, so there is no such display in their honour. The low-key gathering the retirees in Chaiyaphum got for their long service this year was coordinated by their own savings cooperative, and this was more than most of their counterparts across the country can dream of.
In my view, teachers are no less important than our brave soldiers and police officers. Though unarmed, they have fought ceaselessly to mould and shape our society. They are the cultural warriors who shape the spirit of this country, the architects of our children's aspirations. Since it is the younger generation that will ultimately determine the fate and future of this country, not the constitution or even the government, whether our country will prosper or fail on the road to democracy depends to a large extent on their teachers.
That's why I proposed that the cooperative find a better place to hold the ceremony in the years to come. A big school with many students on hand to show their gratitude would be a proper venue to honour them.
If soldiers are the warriors for independence, teachers deserve the same honour as cultural fighters and promoters of democracy.
Nowadays, very little attention is given to teachers. This is abundantly clear in the choice of the minister in charge of the portfolio _ a telecommunications expert with no background in education work was nominated to take the helm of this important ministry, reportedly to ''try'' the role.
Even worse, many teachers are unaware of or forget the importance of their own role and mission in developing the country and democracy.
Politicians spend enormous sums on elections. They form factions to bargain for the ministerial posts they covet. And we all know quite a few of them are corrupt to the core. How did this happen? Isn't it because of a spectacular failure in our educational system to train them properly? Haven't we failed to instill in them morality and ethics and a sense of love and sacrifice for the nation and society?
I'm a firm believer that everyone is born pure before virtue and evil have a chance to shape their minds and characters. Teachers can shape people in so many ways, and play a big part in creating a culture in which noble men are respected and corrupt ones are outcast and prevented from taking key roles in the country.
Even when teachers retire their mission is far from over. They have not retired from the duty to help shape posterity and morality, and they never will.
Therefore, I plead with all retiring teachers to continue with their responsibility to help take care of our society, especially in their own communities. Now that the administrative power is decentralised, they can help at their local Tambon Administration Organisation (TAO), and even take executive positions. Like all Thais, they have constitutional rights to propose laws or remove corrupt people from office.
Only through this kind of commitment from people with the sort of ability that is nurtured in teachers can our country weather the current storm. If we do our part, our country will be clean and its name will be removed from the lists of the world's most corrupt countries and least credible judicial systems.
Teachers can lead the way in this fight.
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