The Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) will seek a Bt350million budget to hire 300 native English-speaking teachers for its primary and secondary schools to tackle the shortage of English teachers, a senior official said yesterday.

According to the proposal, the native speakers would each get about Bt1 million per year - a salary of Bt83,000 per month - compared to the Bt9,000 per month drawn by Thais teaching English.