Young thais ill-equipped for adult life

[george]

Young Thais ill-equipped for adult life

School leavers in 43 countries surveyed

Few young Thais leaving school have adequate literacy skills to cope with the complexities of adult life, according to a report released yesterday by Unesco and a rich countries' club.

Only 1% of Thais surveyed reached the level of reading proficiency that enables them to manage and understand complex texts, infer relevant information, and critically evaluate it by drawing on specialised knowledge.

On a scale of minus-one to five, 37% of 15-year-olds surveyed had attained only level 2, meaning they achieved much simpler versions of these tasks; 27% reached level 1; 21% level 3 and 5% level 4, while 10 % were below level 1.

People with inadequate literacy skills are not only of concern to policy makers trying to encourage life-long learning, says the report, calling this a well-recognised need.

``People with lower levels of literacy are more likely to depend on public assistance and welfare and to be involved in crime,'' it said.

Ideally, school leavers should have the ``autonomy'' to pursue learning for life.

School leavers in 43 countries were questioned for the report, jointly released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Part of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the report looked at literacy in the written word, mathematics and science.

Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia were the only Asian countries covered. Regionally, Thailand placed fourth, ahead of Indonesia.

Internationally, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong emerged with top scores in maths and sciences, while Finland did best in the written word.

Begun in 2000, PISA has largely looked at literacy in the written word. More attention would be placed on maths this year, and the sciences in 2006.

Against the conventional wisdom that Thai students were weak at maths and sciences, the so-far incomplete findings gave Thai teenagers almost as many points for grasp of these subjects as for the written word.

For combined reading proficiency, which includes the ability to understand, use and reflect on written texts, Thais earned an average 431. In maths, the score was 432, and the sciences 436.

A fair number of Thais, or 22.8%, were ``diversified readers'' focusing on longer and more difficult texts. They tended to be better achievers, though not always, as Japan had 3% in the group and Finland 12.3%

The report noted that socio-economic background seemed to matter ``comparatively less'' in East Asia than in Eastern Europe.

It emphasised the importance of well-channelled public spending in education, teachers' commitment and parental attention.

Thailand, for instance, spent as much of its gross domestic product, 4.9%, on education as the OECD states _ but there were huge performance gaps.

Thai parents communicated with their teenage children more on cultural rather than social matters, the former being about 0.3 index points below the OECD average, the social index about 0.3 above.

Bangkokpost 2003-07-02

[Rinrada]

Bit more on riter-rhiteerly-litracy....3 Rs..

Read all about it: If you can.......

Thailand has a very high literacy rate, but hardly anybody reads???

A Thai just reading for pleasure is a rare sight. The authorities want to change this. Progress requires a people willing and able to learn new skills. (SARITDET MARUKATAT )

Omkoi district in Chiang Mai is said to have one of the lowest literacy rates in Thailand, but this is not for lack of effort by those seeking to improve education levels.

The remote district, about 200km south of Chiang Mai city, has long been a focus of those working against illiteracy. Elephants laden with education kits and satellite dishes have been sent to villages and, where the terrain is inaccessible even to elephants, teachers and their aides have gone in by foot.

Yet the problem is not the literacy rate. Literacy means little if a society that reads is not created.

An established indicator is the ratio between the number of newspapers and readers. There are about two million newspapers circulating each day in Thailand among the 62 million population, which means there is one newspaper for every 31 Thais.

The figure in Japan is six readers for each newspaper.

A quick look about the streets confirms this. Few Thais can be seen reading books or newspapers on public buses or trains, unlike in Japan or the West.

Sheldon Shaeffer, director for education at Unesco's Asia and Pacific regional bureau, said: ``To me it's not a problem of the nature of Thais; it's a problem of the nature of the education system.''

The Non-Formal Education Department is aware of this and has launched a campaign aimed at making reading a part of Thais' everyday life. It plans to encourage people to read 20 pages every day so that it becomes a habit and people will feel a loss if they miss a day.

But where will the books come from to satisfy this demand? There are fewer libraries in Thailand than internet cafes, and where there are libraries, especially in the provincial and district centres, the reading material is limited.

Thailand falls down on the availability of reading material, Mr Shaeffer said. But more important is the need to produce readers, and there is no better time to start doing this than at a young age using well-trained teachers in schools and with the help of parents at home.

Reading must be made fun, Mr Shaeffer said. ``If reading is seen as part of homework that children must finish, reading becomes a chore. It is not free reading,'' he said. ``Children will see it as a task rather than a pleasure.''

Encouraging reading also would help people retain language skills. One in every three literates tends to forget what he has learned over time because he does not refresh his memory through reading.

The most sensitive groups in this category are the ethnic hilltribes in the North and residents of the Muslim-dominated southern provinces, especially the elderly. They have their own languages and they can lose the Thai language if they do not use it every day, either by reading or speaking.

Mr Shaeffer said access to more books could help these people, but this should not be to the detriment of their mother tongue.

If Thailand fails to become a society which reads, it will fail to become a knowledge-based society, the target Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has set himself before retiring from politics.>>>more

Yet to get a poxy job you need a Degree,have 20 years experience,be under 25 and "attractive"

http://www.bangkokpost.com/180603_News/18Jun2003_news43.html

[naja]

Who reads the numerous and diverse thai magazines one see in thai bookshops?

[singa-traz]

ah ... those ... they come handy when it start raining ...