12 Years Of School Mandatory

[richard10365]

I asked this question on a different thread but didn't seem to get a response. I thought it would be a bit more appropriate here.

From my understanding, a Thai student only goes from M3 to M4 if their grades are high enough.

According to the new (proposed) constitution http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?ac...st&id=38147, schools will not stop a mattayom student from going from M3 to M4 just because of lower test scores.

Chapter 3, Part 8, Section 48, Para 1

A person shall have equal rights to basic education of not less than 12 years, which the State shall provide widely and with quality without charges.

What affect will this have on the current educational system here in Thailand?

Edited August 1, 2007 by richard10365

[Stephen Cleary]

All very easier said than done. Supposedly, Thai kids are to have 9 years of compulsory education ie. M3 and in theory they can be forced to attend.

Everyone may complain about the lack of law enforcement in Thailand, but very few sit to ponder the extremely poor enforcement of attending school. Most civil servant Thai teachers are incredibly inept at following-up on students at both Prathom and Mathayom levels who have for some reason - suddenly disappeared. Often, it is the kids' parents who cant give a darned and come out with some flimsy excuse that they just dont have the money (while mom spends her cash on lottery tickets and dad's on whiskey).

Then we have the kids in remote areas who have little access to a high school. After finishing Prathom, their only choice is to attend a High School in the nearest town area which is 30km away. So, it is almost impossible sometimes in these situations to make learning compulsory.

All very easier said than done.

Edited August 2, 2007 by Stephen Cleary

[slapout]

The villages thoughout northern Thailand were known for 4 years of education, 20 years ago. If their parents have no money they can send kids to temple schools but in many cases opt to put them to work taking care of younger family, working in rice or garlic etc. I have seen 2 cases where students were held back in Thai schools and finally sent to temple school. The monks after 2 or 3 year sent the kids home, as they gave up on them. The Boys (both) worked on the farm for a couple years and went into the army. Both were discharged as soon as possible by the army with the understanding they would not attempt to come back. They are now back in the village, drinking hanging out and asking family members to help them out. What is hard for me to understand is no one seems to see them as bums. non-contributers etc Maybe these type have the system figured out and are more clever than most.????

[markg]

I asked this question on a different thread but didn't seem to get a response. I thought it would be a bit more appropriate here.

From my understanding, a Thai student only goes from M3 to M4 if their grades are high enough.

According to the new (proposed) constitution http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?ac...st&id=38147, schools will not stop a mattayom student from going from M3 to M4 just because of lower test scores.

Chapter 3, Part 8, Section 48, Para 1

A person shall have equal rights to basic education of not less than 12 years, which the State shall provide widely and with quality without charges.

What affect will this have on the current educational system here in Thailand?

Theres a few ways of looking at this. The way I read it, it doesnt say they have to go up to M4. It says they have to have 12 years of equal rights education. They can be held back in M3 for another year and complete their 12th year of education there. It's the same back home. You can leave school at 16 - you DONT have to have taken your GCSEs though!

The students have been given the same rights and opportunities as their peers - if that student chose to fart around at school then he deserves to be held back a year.

I see no problem with the constitution as you have copied it above - but that's just the way i read it.

[richard10365]

I think currently, not all Thai children can go to M4. They can only advance from M3 to M4 if they pass a test. If not, their free public education stops there.

According to the new constitution, all children will go on to M4 regardless of what their test scores are at the end of M3. After M4, they will advance to M5 and M6 respectively.

This means more teachers will have to be hired at the M4 and up levels to handle the increased student load.

[markg]

Maybe you're right. I dont know.

But i still dont understand how you infer that the government will force students into Matayom 4 from what is said in the constitution. I havent read the constitution, so i'm only going on the quote you originally posted.

Chapter 3, Part 8, Section 48, Para 1

A person shall have equal rights to basic education of not less than 12 years, which the State shall provide widely and with quality without charges.

It says they have to study for 12 years. It doesnt say they have to go into M4 to do it. They could finish their 12th year in M3 by being held back and repeating M3 again.

We have a number of students at our school who are a year older than their classmates because they have been forced to repeat a year. Those kids therefore could leave school in M3 - they will have completed their 12 years of education by then. Do you see what i mean?

Edited August 4, 2007 by markg

[PeaceBlondie]

We're reading a snippet of a large body of law, and we are accustomed to interpreting legal jargon literally, which may not apply in practice here. Also, we're reading a translation. Even then, a Western law which merely guaranteed "A person shall have equal rights to basic education of not less than 12 years" would not guarantee that the person receive 12 years, only that he had the right to get it if he wanted, and no more 'rights' than the next impoverished Thai.

It is a noble goal not likely to be accomplished in the next one or two decades. Thailand should work on many goals to improve literacy in Thai, foster critical thinking, reform the education of Thai educators, etc.

[chevykanteve]

We're reading a snippet of a large body of law, and we are accustomed to interpreting legal jargon literally, which may not apply in practice here. Also, we're reading a translation. Even then, a Western law which merely guaranteed "A person shall have equal rights to basic education of not less than 12 years" would not guarantee that the person receive 12 years, only that he had the right to get it if he wanted, and no more 'rights' than the next impoverished Thai.

It is a noble goal not likely to be accomplished in the next one or two decades. Thailand should work on many goals to improve literacy in Thai, foster critical thinking, reform the education of Thai educators, etc.

Peaceblondie, you are dead right! You've just bottom-lined the true needs of the Thai education system. If only the Thai MOE could see things this way. Instead, their concern focuses (like most civil servants) on "how to keep one's job". Two decades yes, though perhaps optimistically.

[richard10365]

This new law could also be interpreted as meaning those people who dropped out of school before their 12 years of basic education were completed, can now go back to school.

I know adult like schools like this exist in Chiang Mai but not sure how common they are throughout the rest of Thailand.

This could also include those who did not orginally pass the test to go from M3 to M4.

I imagine the 30 baht card was faced with similiar skepticism when it first appeared as a topic of discussion. One can hope this new education plan will do just as well.

[richard10365]

Now that they passed the law, how soon before all schools go to the mandatory 12 years of school for all Thai children?

[markg]

There are already schools in Thailand for just this purpose. They are called Nor Sor somthing or other.

They are free and help anyone of any age achieve the Mathayom 3 level certificate of basic education.

I think it's a fine idea.

[PeaceBlondie]

I'm not sure if the law has been passed in the sense that binding legislation is on the books to get it done. It was merely part of the constitutional referendum, right? And that document is over 160 pages long in Thai, right? Even if the correct legislature passed a specific law, unless they funded the system (such as increasing the number of classrooms and teachers for Matayom 4, 5, 6, or the vo-tech schools), nothing would change.

[richard10365]

There are already schools in Thailand for just this purpose. They are called Nor Sor somthing or other.

They are free and help anyone of any age achieve the Mathayom 3 level certificate of basic education.

I think it's a fine idea.

I guess the main difference to the schools already doing this is that all matayom schools in Thailand would now be required to send the entire matayom 3 class to matayom 4.

[markg]

There are already schools in Thailand for just this purpose. They are called Nor Sor somthing or other.

They are free and help anyone of any age achieve the Mathayom 3 level certificate of basic education.

I think it's a fine idea.

I guess the main difference to the schools already doing this is that all matayom schools in Thailand would now be required to send the entire matayom 3 class to matayom 4.

Why? I just dont see it the same way as you do. Can you explain how you read the rules as forcing schools to punt students up into M4. Cant they just keep them in M3 for 2 years? Technically they could keep them in P6 for 6 years and still give them 12 years education couldnt they?

Please explain where you are coming from.

[richard10365]

There are already schools in Thailand for just this purpose. They are called Nor Sor somthing or other.

They are free and help anyone of any age achieve the Mathayom 3 level certificate of basic education.

I think it's a fine idea.

I guess the main difference to the schools already doing this is that all matayom schools in Thailand would now be required to send the entire matayom 3 class to matayom 4.

Why? I just dont see it the same way as you do. Can you explain how you read the rules as forcing schools to punt students up into M4. Cant they just keep them in M3 for 2 years? Technically they could keep them in P6 for 6 years and still give them 12 years education couldnt they?

Please explain where you are coming from.

I guess the main problem would be with the Thai education system and the act of sex. Thai schools normally doesn't fail their students. Thats just the way things are. Why they don't fail their students is a whole different subject. Birds and bees later.

Let's say they did fail their students. Out of 400 students, 200 fail and are held back in M3. At the same time, 400 M2 students advance to M3. Now you have 600 M3 students. The number of teachers stays the same but the class size increased to about 75 students in a class. Hold the same 200 back again, plus 200 more from the new class and now you have 800 students in classes in M3. Class sizes double to 100 students per class.

Thanks to sex, there will always be an endless supply of students.