Onet Failures May Have To Repeat Year

Onet failures may have to repeat year

By The Nation

Move being considered to ensure students take the tests seriously

Students who flunk the Ordinary National Educational Test (Onet) may be forced to repeat their classes for a whole academic year, as authorities want students to take the exam seriously.

"If students, for example, fail to meet the minimum score in main subjects such as Thai, we may not let them graduate," Chinnapat Bhumirat, secretarygeneral of the Basic Education Commission, said yesterday.

Many measures were under consideration to motivate students to prepare earnestly for Onet, he said.

"We're thinking about using Onet scores as admission criteria for secondary schools too," he said.

The National Institute of Educational Testing Service and other agencies will be invited to discuss how to improve learning and teaching at schools by referring to Onet scores.

"We'll have a discussion on May 10 and we expect to conclude everything by then," he said.

A meeting with Onet director Samphan Phanphruk on Monday agreed that Onet would be multiple choice - four answers for each question for Pathom 6 testtakers, but five for secondary school students.

Only Pathom 6, Mathayom 3 and Mathayom 6 students are required to take the tests.

For years, Onet scores held little significance for Pathom 6 and Mathayom 3 students. Their scores just reflected the academic performance of each school. The testtakers did not have to use their scores for anything.

Mathayom 6 students usually have to include their Onet scores along with their admission applications to their preferred institutions.

For the last academic year, Pathom 6 and Mathayom 3 students were far from impressive with their Onet results. Pathom 6 and Mathayom 3 students averaged just 20.99 and 16.19 on the English test. Even for the Thai test, they did not do much better - 31.22 for Pathom 6 students and 42.80 for Mathayom 3 students. Average scores in most other subjects were also on the low side.

Schools would be allowed to offer intensive summer courses for students who failed Onet.

"If the students improve their academic performance well enough, we plan to let them advance to a higher class. But if not, we have to consider forcing them to repeat the whole course or the whole class," Chinnapat said.

At a recent seminar organised by The Nation on political parties' educational policies, Dilaka Lathapipat from the Thailand Development Research Institute said that repeating the whole class should be prescribed for some students, otherwise academic performance would worsen.

"The Education Ministry's decision to let all students pass to a higher level regardless of their academic performance is very dangerous. It's too late to correct anything when students are already too old," he said.

"On average, the level of Thai university graduates' knowledge is now the same as that of Singaporean Grade 12 students."

-- The Nation 2011-05-04