Moral Students Project Rolls Across 9 Provinces

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Moral students project rolls across 9 provinces

By Wannapa Khaopa

The Nation

Nakhon Pathom

Published on February 1, 2010

NAKHON PATHOM: -- Special varsity admission quota looks to applicants with strong social mores

A project offering a university education to "good students" is expanding to many provinces.

Educational service zone offices in nine central provinces last week agreed to expand their collaboraฌtion with Kasetsart University's Kamphaeng Saen campus to select good students to study there.

The project to set aside a special quota for students with a record of volunteerism and strong morals started four years ago in Nakhon Pathom.

The nine provinces are Nakhon Pathom, Suphan Buri, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Samut Songkhram, Singburi, Lop Buri and Chai Nat.

Atiwat Panpracha, a former deputy director of Nakhon Pathom educational service zone 1, and Prachern Khonthet, a teacher at Sriwichaiwithaya School, are the cofounders of the project.

Elsewhere, students in 14 southern provinces are given the same chance to study at the undergraduate level by Prince of Songkhla University and Thaksin University. Khon Kaen University and Mahasarakham University cover their provinces and Naresuan University provides the same opportunity in Phitsanulok, said Atiwat, who is now director of Surin educational service zone 2.

More than 1,000 students have been recruited under the project so far, based not on academic tests but criteria such as good conduct, strong leadership, volunteer activities, environmental conservation and campaigning against drugs.

These good students are being taken back to work for their hometown soon.

"The first group of students under this project is about to graduate with a bachelor's degree in one or two months. So, Nakhon Pathom will act as a pilot province bringing back the graduates in the province to work and develop their hometowns," Atiwat said.

Preecha Sukkun, deputy director of Nakhon Pathom educational service zone 1, said a committee comprising members of local public and private organisations and civil society would be set up to select eligible secondary students and coordinate with these local organisations to provide jobs to the graduates.

"Studying at a university near their home, students can continue running their volunteer activities with juniors at their former schools. When they work here, they still can do such activities. We'll request financial support from the Rotary Club, local administration organisations and companies for them to engage in useful activities," Preecha said.

According to the Kamphaeng Saen Campus' annual records from the 20062008 academic years, these students' average educational results were ranked in the first and second groups with the highest educational results. All students were divided into four groups.

They include students admitted through the good student quota, direct admission, central admisฌsions system and the outstanding athletes quota.

Utumporn Jamornmann, director of the National Institute of Education Testing Service (NIETS), who is an expert in creating several national academic and aptitude tests to screen students for universities, said the project was a good start.

The country now does not have national morality tests due to the time limit for announcing national test results for hundreds of thousands of students.

"NIETS also wants to create national morality tests and already has forms for such tests. Academic tests are not enough. However, to test what is in people's minds is very hard. We need to do research to guarantee the accuracy of the tests," he said.

"The universities that recruited this group of students need to follow up if they perform as well as the universities wanted. They should conduct longterm research as a followup to see if the project is successful.

"When the project is extended on a bigger scale, authorities should be careful of the selection process to prevent nepotism. NIETS is ready to help design morality tests for this project if requested."

-- The Nation 2010-02-01

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[Garry9999]

The concept is Ok, but I'm not sure about morality tests.

[apetley]

I agree with Garry9999, not so sure.

Can see alot of pushy parents 'volunteering' their young kids for alsorts in the hope they qualify as part of the quota.

Who was it once said, "I admire integrity in a person and I'm willing to pay for it"?

[geriatrickid]

Not that much different than universities and social groups in the west that offer bursaries and grants to people that participate in the betterment of the community in which they live. I have a feeling the use of the term "moral" is not what was intended. Rather, they may have meant to say people of good character. Hopefully it helps students that would not otherwise be able to afford the schooling. I recall there were kids in my freshman residence that used their interest free student loans and bursaries to finance their weed, booze, and spring break vacations so maybe this scheme is better since it takes care of the tuition directly.

[givenall]

The concept is Ok, but I'm not sure about morality tests.

This is not to say any thing bad about Thai people, but all Thai friends I have and I know which are married , they all have GF on the side. Well may be the morality means different things to different people

[MHM]

University is (or should be) a broad church. Why not let these kids have a break, a chance to better their lives? They may even teach the idle rich in their classroom a thing or two.