Thailand's Global Education Ranking Sparks Controversy and Scrutiny

[snoop1130]

Photo courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

Thailand's education system has become a topic of heated discussion following its placement at 107th out of 203 countries in a global education survey by the World Population Review. This ranking has raised concerns among Thai officials, with some criticising the survey's methodology as misleading.

 

Professor Dr Prawit Erawan, Secretary General of the Office of the Education Council (OEC), questioned the survey's credibility. He argued that the rankings rely heavily on subjective opinions from 78 countries instead of objective educational metrics. "These rankings represent perceptions more than actual educational quality," Dr Prawit stated.

 

The report lists Thailand as 8th in Southeast Asia (ASEAN), sparking further debate. Thai education officials highlighted the nation's high literacy rate of approximately 99% for those aged 15 and over, suggesting that such figures should positively impact Thailand's global standing.

 

Dr Prawit criticised the survey's implicit bias towards affluent countries, noting that it unfairly links educational quality directly to economic status. He believes that if literacy were a significant metric, Thailand could potentially lead the ASEAN rankings.

 

 

 

Acknowledging the survey's perceived flaws, Dr Prawit called for improvements in Thailand's educational database to provide a clearer representation in future global assessments. "An accurate, up-to-date database is crucial for ensuring that our education system's quality is represented correctly in global rankings," he added.

 

Despite these critiques, Dr Prawit conceded that there remains a strong linkage between educational quality and societal progress. While he recognises existing disparities, he remains optimistic, suggesting that improvements in Thailand's data collection and education system could enhance its future positioning.

 

Among the top global education performers, South Korea, Denmark, and the Netherlands rank highly, while within ASEAN, Thailand stands behind Laos but ahead of Myanmar and Cambodia. The discussion continues, as officials and educators alike seek to enhance Thailand's educational landscape, reported The Thaiger.

 

-- 2025-03-26

 

 

[Don Giovanni]

4 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand's education system has become a topic of heated discussion following its placement at 107th out of 203

Thailand should take a leaf out of Japans book.

 

We have quality education here and a well disciplined population.

 

Don.

[ikke1959]

As long as the non fail policy is used, the education system creates lazy students, and stimulate not to learn or do any effort to reach something in their lives.. People are not different from other countries, but the Government keeps them stupid to stay in power. Suppose that the students are being well educated and see what is going on, they would loose their power and status quickly. And many Thai teachers in any subject have the same problem. Too many students in a classroom, nobody can fail, and some schools even oblige teachers to give no lower grades than 2,5.

[lordgrinz]

Well, as usual a government agency rejects the findings, The Office of the Education Council says they have done their own survey and found the "initial literacy result was 99%". Nothing to see here, it's just another misunderstanding.

 

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2986361/education-council-rejects-low-asean-ranking-says-finding-not-supported

[dinsdale]

5 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

This ranking has raised concerns among Thai officials, with some criticising the survey's methodology as misleading.

My guess is flawed rather than misleading. 107^th out of 203? Seems way too high IMHO.

[BangkokReady]

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

As long as the non fail policy is used, the education system creates lazy students

 

No fail, pretend teaching, copying and cheating is fine, no real consequences for anything, just buy your way to a qualification.  Don't question or criticise anyone.  Oldest person is automatically in charge viewed as being "senior".

[BangkokReady]

5 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

He argued that the rankings rely heavily on subjective opinions from 78 countries instead of objective educational metrics.

 

Gee, I wonder why they wouldn't trust "objective educational metrics"...  🤔

[dinsdale]

5 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The report lists Thailand as 8th in Southeast Asia (ASEAN), sparking further debate. Thai education officials highlighted the nation's high literacy rate of approximately 99% for those aged 15 and over

Poppy cock. Finland with one of the best education systems in the world has a 100% literacy rate for ages over 15. Anyone who believes this 99% figure is deluded and those sprouting it are complete liars.

[dinsdale]

4 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

Oldest person is automatically in charge.

Not the case.

[BangkokReady]

2 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Not the case.

 

Sure, yeah.  Edited it to viewed as being "senior".

[Celsius]

5 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

He believes that if literacy were a significant metric, Thailand could potentially lead the ASEAN rankings.

 

The Hub of literacy 

[Watawattana]

28 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Poppy cock. Finland with one of the best education systems in the world has a 100% literacy rate for ages over 15. Anyone who believes this 99% figure is deluded and those sprouting it are complete liars.

I don’t agree. I suspect it is 99% with government evidence available to prove this. 
 

I wonder what the figure would be without the ‘no fail’ policy though. 
 

🤪

[dinsdale]

2 minutes ago, Watawattana said:

I don’t agree. I suspect it is 99% with government evidence available to prove this. 
 

I wonder what the figure would be without the ‘no fail’ policy though. 
 

🤪

I may be wrong on this one I agree. I think by literacy they are simply using the base standard of being able to read and write which basically doesn't reflect educational standards.

[Geoffggi]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

This ranking has raised concerns among Thai officials, with some criticising the survey's methodology as misleading.

 

They should know, Thailand is well known for gaining what they want to hear from surveys ..............................LOL 😂🤣😁😎

[SABloke]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

This ranking has raised concerns among Thai officials, with some criticising the survey's methodology as misleading.

 

However, had the same survey listed Thailand as No.1 in the world, these officials would be clamouring for photo ops and taking all the credit 🙄

[JoePai]

14 hours ago, Don Giovanni said:

Thailand should take a leaf out of Japans book.

 

We have quality education here and a well disciplined population.

 

Don.

But it's good to see you are on a Thai forum  🤣

[JimHuaHin]

There are three dominant ideologies in Thailand  - maintain the status quo, move Thailand slowly back to the golden age of "Love Destiny" or move Thailand forward to an advanced developed democracy.  While the former groups have the power, the latter group are in the majority. 

[atpeace]

Most live here because it is fun place to pass time and not stress about issues that would make this hard to do in the west.  The society here is happy for the most part and living their life while many here on this forum love the opprotunity to show their superiority which says much about the person doing so than the people they are insulting.

 

As for me, I'm cool with Thailand not becoming an economic first world ecomomy and with a pristine educational system.  Can you imagine how out of place most expats in Thailand  would look if Thailanbd was like Singapore.  I know there are exceptions but most Expats here are not  overachievers. 

 

Lack of structure is what makes Thailand great IMO.  I can relax and not worry about being what others would consider productive.  I have my hobbies and pursue them with a passion which is perfect.  Sure it can be frustrating sometimes but I just remind myself about the last trips back home  where everything was orderly and most people seemed to be just maintaining a boring unsatisfying life.  I enjoy my trips back home but coming back to Thailand even more 🙂

[Don Giovanni]

2 hours ago, JoePai said:

But it's good to see you are on a Thai forum  🤣

I come to Thailand as a tourist regularly, and have done for almost 30 years.

 

Don.

[Gottfrid]

NO, this ranking is correct. It´s Thailands own studies and rankings that are false, as they try and convince the population with false facts. They do that in all areas.

[Chelseafan]

12 hours ago, lordgrinz said:

Well, as usual a government agency rejects the findings, The Office of the Education Council says they have done their own survey and found the "initial literacy result was 99%". Nothing to see here, it's just another misunderstanding.

 

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2986361/education-council-rejects-low-asean-ranking-says-finding-not-supported

 

Meamwhile a survery in Mathematics found 101% of the population were of good standard...

 

 

[daveAustin]

1 hour ago, atpeace said:

Most live here because it is fun place to pass time and not stress about issues that would make this hard to do in the west.  The society here is happy for the most part and living their life while many here on this forum love the opprotunity to show their superiority which says much about the person doing so than the people they are insulting.

 

As for me, I'm cool with Thailand not becoming an economic first world ecomomy and with a pristine educational system.  Can you imagine how out of place most expats in Thailand  would look if Thailanbd was like Singapore.  I know there are exceptions but most Expats here are not  overachievers. 

 

Lack of structure is what makes Thailand great IMO.  I can relax and not worry about being what others would consider productive.  I have my hobbies and pursue them with a passion which is perfect.  Sure it can be frustrating sometimes but I just remind myself about the last trips back home  where everything was orderly and most people seemed to be just maintaining a boring unsatisfying life.  I enjoy my trips back home but coming back to Thailand even more 🙂

That's all fair enough and I agree, but one has to baulk at the incredulity of the Secretary General of the Office of the Education Council in questioning the survey, which is non-bias. It is what it is. He then bandies about word salad--'objective educational metrics'--in a bid to cajole the World Population Review or impress upon readers in general that the system is wrong. 

 

The bottomline is, and aside from the occasional brilliant student, Thailand's general education standard stinks and his typical misdirection is not helping. Points mentioned above: not failing flunkers, laziness and cheating for sure. But, more so, there is an abundance of poorly trained/educated teachers overseeing bored kids with tired rote-learning, making classes 'fun' rather than educational first and foremost, saluting the flag and chanting nationalistic slogans day after day, etc. A lot of time wasted in teaching the wrong things the 'right' way. This is not showing a superior attitude. It just is what it is. I personally couldn't give a monkey's chuff that I may have gleaned a decent education or that my country might be right up there in the rankings. Who cares! I'd still rather be here after all.  

 

I'm also of the mind that the place doesn't need to be world leader, in anything, or need its populace to be proficient English speakers and the rest of it. Thailand is about right where it should be, the people are laidback and generally happier on the face of it than the so-called first world. BUT... Dr Prawit Erawan should perhaps see it how it is, focus more on the above and not try to bs the rest of the world.

[Chelseafan]

9 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

That's all fair enough and I agree, but one has to baulk at the incredulity of the Secretary General of the Office of the Education Council in questioning the survey, which is non-bias. It is what it is. He then bandies about word salad--'objective educational metrics'--in a bid to cajole the World Population Review or impress upon readers in general that the system is wrong. 

 

The bottomline is, and aside from the occasional brilliant student, Thailand's general education standard stinks and his typical misdirection is not helping. Points mentioned above: not failing flunkers, laziness and cheating for sure. But, more so, there is an abundance of poorly trained/educated teachers overseeing bored kids with tired rote-learning, making classes 'fun' rather than educational first and foremost, saluting the flag and chanting nationalistic slogans day after day, etc. A lot of time wasted in teaching the wrong things the 'right' way. This is not showing a superior attitude. It just is what it is. I personally couldn't give a monkey's chuff that I may have gleaned a decent education or that my country might be right up there in the rankings. Who cares! I'd still rather be here after all.  

 

I'm also of the mind that the place doesn't need to be world leader, in anything, or need its populace to be proficient English speakers and the rest of it. Thailand is about right where it should be, the people are laidback and generally happier on the face of it than the so-called first world. BUT... Dr Prawit Erawan should perhaps see it how it is, focus more on the above and not try to bs the rest of the world.

 

Myself and Mrs Chelsefan took our daughter out of state education and put her into a private school.

We noticed very quickly her lack of skills in critical thinking and the alarming trend of teaching everything parrot-fashion. It was obvious that many of the teachers really couldn't be bothered and were only there for a pay check, suffice to say her education has improved dramatically.

Our eldest daughter is currently in University and judging by her coursework the standards are pretty poor compared to a western degree.

 

 

 

[MarkBR]

No fail policy is a BIG problem

[Mavideol]

19 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Dr Prawit criticised the survey's implicit bias towards affluent countries, noting that it unfairly links educational quality directly to economic status. He believes that if literacy were a significant metric, Thailand could potentially lead the ASEAN rankings.

as always the same lame excuses, blaming somebody else for their failures and short comings

[bbbbooboo]

hmmm… Thailand’s “education system

” has been a shocking display of incompetence for at least the last 10 years and they know it

[Tom100]

The poor educational results have been well known for decades based on standardized testing. 

 
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2044427/long-overdue-end-of-o-net-exams. 

[kuzmabruk]

19 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

high literacy rate of approximately 99% for those aged 15 and over,

Sorry it took me so ling to respond, been bent over from laughing.   My wife who graduated from technical college once asked me “why are there two” as she pointed to the moon on an early evening when both the sun and moon were visible.  And she, like the vegetable salesman at Rumpoh market in Pattaya, do not know the name of any vegetable, they just say “si kyao” or green.  She does know the names of most Thai fruits.  And rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and all bodies of water are “nam”.  So I definitely agree she is literate, at least compared with our two year old.  

[Joe32]

Everyone should change their mindset. It's beyond ridiculous. 

 

Schools may not fail students, students may not stay in the same grade for more than one year. Then you create lazy students. 

 

But if you do, you get in trouble with their overprotective parents. This is why schools don't do anything about it. 

 

If students underperform, they'll be labeled LD, ADHD, autistic, and they'll be sent to a doctor, who would be glad to prescribe them some medicine to make money. And when students come back to school, they can just do whatever and end up in the next grade anyway, just because of their label. 

 

Parents play a big role in this. They don't want to lose face, because oh no, it's my fault that my kid is lazy? Nono, we bring them to the doctor, because he/she is sick in their head. Just to avoid responsibility. It's terrible because they often are prescribed medicine that they don't even need. 

 

Besides this, schools also look better if everyone passes. They also avoid their responsibility. We are good teachers, the kid must be sick in their head.

 

But they forget one thing, if students go from P1 to P6 year by year without studying or critical thinking, you'll end up with a bunch of students with P1 knowledge in P6 and so on in Matthayom.

 

And parents are dumb enough to listen to schools and doctors. They can tell them anything and they'd believe it and do as they were told. 

 

But... Ofc, it's a mistake done by whomever made this ranking. Typical behavior same like the parents, avoid responsibility. How can this country get out of this. It's like a play that everyone knows everyone does, and they keep playing pretend somehow. It's insane. 

[safarimike11]

19 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Photo courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

Thailand's education system has become a topic of heated discussion following its placement at 107th out of 203 countries in a global education survey by the World Population Review. This ranking has raised concerns among Thai officials, with some criticising the survey's methodology as misleading.

 

Professor Dr Prawit Erawan, Secretary General of the Office of the Education Council (OEC), questioned the survey's credibility. He argued that the rankings rely heavily on subjective opinions from 78 countries instead of objective educational metrics. "These rankings represent perceptions more than actual educational quality," Dr Prawit stated.

 

The report lists Thailand as 8th in Southeast Asia (ASEAN), sparking further debate. Thai education officials highlighted the nation's high literacy rate of approximately 99% for those aged 15 and over, suggesting that such figures should positively impact Thailand's global standing.

 

Dr Prawit criticised the survey's implicit bias towards affluent countries, noting that it unfairly links educational quality directly to economic status. He believes that if literacy were a significant metric, Thailand could potentially lead the ASEAN rankings.

 

 

 

Acknowledging the survey's perceived flaws, Dr Prawit called for improvements in Thailand's educational database to provide a clearer representation in future global assessments. "An accurate, up-to-date database is crucial for ensuring that our education system's quality is represented correctly in global rankings," he added.

 

Despite these critiques, Dr Prawit conceded that there remains a strong linkage between educational quality and societal progress. While he recognises existing disparities, he remains optimistic, suggesting that improvements in Thailand's data collection and education system could enhance its future positioning.

 

Among the top global education performers, South Korea, Denmark, and the Netherlands rank highly, while within ASEAN, Thailand stands behind Laos but ahead of Myanmar and Cambodia. The discussion continues, as officials and educators alike seek to enhance Thailand's educational landscape, reported The Thaiger.

 

-- 2025-03-26

 

 

"Professor Dr" says it all.