Minister Plans To Send Thai Teachers Back To Schoo

[george]

Minister plans to send Thai teachers back to school

That's the key to reform of education system, he says

BANGKOK - As Thailand's newly installed Minister for Education, Mr Adisai Bodharamik has the huge task of changing the entrenched culture of a nationwide system used to its way of doing things. And if he succeeds, he could change the very nature of Thailand.

The key, he told The Straits Times, is to retrain teachers.

'The system has to be modified, the teachers have to be taught to upgrade, to adjust. I plan to send them back to school,' he said.

Mr Adisai, 63, was moved to the Education Ministry from the Commerce Ministry two months ago, to rejuvenate a sluggish reform process that has drawn fire from critics worried about the country producing uncompetitive graduates.

He plans to hold mock classes with outstanding teachers, videotape them, transfer this to CDs and send them out to schools.

The idea is to show teachers fresh, new techniques that would enable them to enliven classes and motivate students.

'The way they teach now, they may be teaching 100 per cent but the student may be getting only 10 per cent,' the minister said.

But, while it was crucial, changing the attitude of Thailand's 550,000-odd teachers was only one part of a mammoth task.

Major structural reform of the system - emphasising decentralisation - started in 1999. However a series of laws had to be passed to complete the process, and this would take time, he said.

But much could also be done without waiting for laws to be passed. The ministry wants to upgrade and modernise the curriculum according to global standards; give more opportunity for students to pursue activities like sports and music; and encourage more debate in the classroom.

'A good teacher has to encourage a student to raise their hand and ask questions. That's why I'm saying we have to train the teachers how to teach,' Mr Adisai said.

'Also, at the moment, there are too many subjects, the children study all day but don't have the chance to focus on any single subject. There is no depth. I want to reduce the eight hours of study to five hours. Education must have depth and it must also be holistic.

'English is also a problem. Students don't like English because it is not easy to learn, and it is taught in a boring way. Maths is another subject; if you lose one or two hours, forget it.'

As a former representative of Thailand in the World Trade Organisation, where he sided with the Group of 21 at Cancun that scuppered talks on trade liberalisation, Mr Adisai is used to challenging jobs.

Over the last five weeks, he has made one trip every week to country schools, and has pledged to upgrade facilities, provide books and computers, and upgrade teacher skills in many poor areas.

'Our job is to raise the standard to a minimal acceptable level. My philosophy is, in the future students should be able to study close to home.

'They should not have to come to Bangkok to go to a good school, they should not have to go into tuition, and they should be able to study their choice of subject at any good university.'

--Straits Times, Singapore