This year, The Ministry of Education once again added more difficulty in processing the teachers license and work permit. Policies are inconsistent; they keep surprising us, foreign teachers. To obtain a permanent teachers' license, one has to have completed a Thai Culture and Professional Ethics training course, and unfortunately, for those without a degree in education or a teaching diploma, they would have to take the said training and a Professional Knowledge exam; or take an online course, or whatever.

In previous years, a number of schools or organizations offered the Thai Culture and Professional Ethics training for a reasonable price. This year however, The Ministry of Education made the Rajabhat Universities the only official organizers of the training course - for which one has to make a reservation months ahead. What is really painful is how long it takes for them to issue the certificate! It is stated that the certificate will be released after 60 days, but no, it's more than 60 days really!

And worse, you can't process a permanent teachers' license without it even if you have completed all of the other necessary documents. So your non-B visa expires then you have to go do a couple of agonizing visa runs in which the torture ends only until the Thai Culture Certificate is released and you get to process your license and work permit! And hey, during the submission of the necessary documents for a reservation for the training course and paying 4-6,000 baht, there is no assurance that your Thai Culture Certificate will be given to you because... I don't know! In my case, I was told that only 32 out of 80 trainees will receive the certificate because some did not complete the requirements in which we all checked during the training. What a system!

Still waiting impatiently for my most important certificate.

Stephanie