Competition Open For The One District One Scholarship (Odos) Project

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Competition open to one and all now

SUPINDA NA MAHACHAI,

WANNAPA KHAOPA

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Children from all levels of society will be given the opportunity to compete for the One District One Scholarship (Odos) project, the Cabinet decided yesterday.

Winners of the scholarship will be allowed to study in any country, provided their lessons are in the English language. The Cabinet has agreed in principle to allocate some Bt7 billion for this project until 2019.

Previously, the Odos project only accepted students from families whose income did not exceed Bt150,000 per year and allowed them to study in countries where English is not the official language.

However, Sompong Jitradab Angsuwathin, an academic with Chulalongkorn University, said this decision would narrow the window of opportunity for children from poor families because they would have to compete with rich students who are better prepared and more qualified to win.

But Education Minister Suchart Tadathamrongvej said: "Actually, we will separate rich and poor families based on the area they come from. Most of the rich live in urban areas and the poor in rural areas.

"Also, Thailand wants qualified people who complete their studies abroad and come back to help develop the country. That's why we cannot just choose students from poor families, because we want to select applicants according to their capabilities. We have to choose the best student in each district."

He also said that under the previous regulation students had to submit a document signed by a government official guaranteeing that their family income did not exceed Bt150,000 per year, but many eligible candidates could not find an official to sign this document. This regulation took the opportunity away from many, allowing those with connections to apply for the scholarship even though their family income might be higher than Bt150,000.

"It's not easy to study and graduate abroad. Students from poor families who have average academic performance should be given other opportunities to study locally. It won't benefit the country if they cannot graduate after being given a chance to study overseas," the minister said.

REMOVE OBSTACLES

Sompong said the ministry should change regulations or remove problems that cause obstructions for students from poor families, especially in terms of their family income, which reduces chances for them when they have to compete with students from rich families.

As for sending scholarship winners only to countries where English is the first language,

Sompong said the ministry should also consider the knowledge and technology in other countries, especially non-English-speaking ones. This way, the students would be given the chance to learn different things and gain new abilities to work in fields that lack personnel.

"The project will not be different from other scholarships after this regulation is changed," he added.

The Odos project kicked off in 2004 with billions of baht allocated to it, and has granted local and overseas scholarships to more than 1,800 students so far.

In the first two rounds, there were applicants from every district competing for the scholarships, but in the third round, 61 of 926 districts did not have any applicants.

-- The Nation 2012-06-13