Basic Education Levels Worrisome: Thailand

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ONESQA REPORT

Basic education levels worrisome

Saowanee Nimpanpayungwong

The Nation

Almost 2,000 schools under Obec in need of improvement

BANGKOK: -- The Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA) said it had certified only 5,690 of the 7,985 basic educational institutes it assessed.

An academic achievement assessment conducted using O-NET (Ordinary National Educational Test) scores, meanwhile, found that only 18 out of the 100 assessed schools passed.

Announcing its 2011 report of the Third Round of Quality Assurance (2011-2015), ONESQA director Channarong Pornrungroj said basic education standards were still worrisome, while vocational institutes and universities were at a "satisfactory" level.

ONESQA also found that 1,896 schools under the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) needed improvements, 73 of them in need of emergency improvements, he said.

Channarong said the poor academic achievement resulted from a shortage of teachers, teachers instructing students in subjects for which they are not qualified, and teachers' lack of training in diverse teaching methods relevant to their curricula.

He urged small schools with limited per-head subsidies, which often fall behind in these assessments, to overcome their obstacles by recruiting volunteer teachers (such as university students or parents) and creating "friend-help-friend" networks with nearby schools to boost academic achievement.

Urging educational institutions to improve their attitudes toward the assessment and place importance on developments in teaching and learning, he said the issue of low academic achievement must be solved on a system-wide basis, including testing. Exams should aim for student and teacher development, he said. For example, correct exam questions should be explained to pupils and the exams should promote more analytical thinking.

Channarong said the agency's assessment of 179 vocational institutes resulted in only 106 places being certified, while 53 others were certified with conditions.

Among the 20 failed institutes, 15 were privately run and five state-run. At theses institutes, students' achievement and innovations didn't meet the criteria, while some vocational projects were also rated rather poorly. He urged vocational schools to promote creativity to build innovation - rather than just focusing on fixing or maintaining things - and urged the central agency to instil a creativity-boosting atmosphere with many contests.

ONESQA assessed 47 higher education institutions' quality, research and innovation, academic achievement, art and cultural promotion, management administration and internal quality assessment. Channarong said 45 universities passed and were certified, with Khon Kaen University and Phuket Rajabhat University getting very good results.

Hat Yai University and Lumnamping College didn't pass, however, because some faculties/departments didn't meet all the standards. Channarong urged college and university lecturers to improve their performance and conduct more research, which he said should be more relevant to Thai society.

-- The Nation 2012-07-13

[MaxLee]

Thai kids are not stupid, but the Thai school system is created to make them appear so just to become obedient, boring citizens, only serving the most corrupt and self-serving high status people...

No kid on earth is stupid...

[thaicbr]

Thai kids are not stupid, but the Thai school system is created to make them appear so just to become obedient, boring citizens, only serving the most corrupt and self-serving high status people...

No kid on earth is stupid...

I do not necessarily agree. Kids are made stupid and some Thai kids are stupid, as in any other country.

I agree nature did not make them that way. The system did. the lack of good parenting did.

But even when they get a chance to change they don't. That's stupidity

Sent from my GT-P1010 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Thaddeus]

There is no greater waste in this world than a child's potential.

[SuneeTH]

Thai kids are not stupid, but the Thai school system is created to make them appear so just to become obedient, boring citizens, only serving the most corrupt and self-serving high status people...

No kid on earth is stupid...

I do not necessarily agree. Kids are made stupid and some Thai kids are stupid, as in any other country.

I agree nature did not make them that way. The system did. the lack of good parenting did.

But even when they get a chance to change they don't. That's stupidity

Sent from my GT-P1010 using Thaivisa Connect App

Some kids are smart.

Some kids are stupid.

In general, there are more stupid kids in Thailand than, say, UK.

Mark is a British born kid, not Thai, hence he went to Eton / Oxford.

[thaicbr]

Thai kids are not stupid, but the Thai school system is created to make them appear so just to become obedient, boring citizens, only serving the most corrupt and self-serving high status people...

No kid on earth is stupid...

I do not necessarily agree. Kids are made stupid and some Thai kids are stupid, as in any other country.

I agree nature did not make them that way. The system did. the lack of good parenting did.

But even when they get a chance to change they don't. That's stupidity

Sent from my GT-P1010 using Thaivisa Connect App

Some kids are smart.

Some kids are stupid.

In general, there are more stupid kids in Thailand than, say, UK.

Mark is a British born kid, not Thai, hence he went to Eton / Oxford.

Mark was born of thai parents so is a thai who was born outside Thailand just like the king 100% thai.

sent from my Wellcom A90+

[bumpkin]

Another report indicating that what the children need is an improvement in teaching standards, not a free games machine.

[McMagus]

To Sunee TH .... that has to be the most stupid post I have seen. How in the name of God can you post something like that without any statistical evidence to back up your claim. What counts as stupidity? You need to research Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence work. However...it is very very stupid to try and get into the skytrain before I can get out :-))

[zoroastra999]

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education."

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English philosopher, mathematician and writer.

The most educated (and therefore the most stupid) go on to become Educational Consultants and Quality Assurance Analysts. Nobody (apart from the clinically insane) would give a monkey's toss about anything such morons might have to say.

[Thaddeus]

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education."

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English philosopher, mathematician and writer.

The most educated (and therefore the most stupid) go on to become Educational Consultants and Quality Assurance Analysts. Nobody (apart from the clinically insane) would give a monkey's toss about anything such morons might have to say.

Bertrand had a point, but.

I firmly believe that apart from a very small percentage who are born not quite wired-up the right way, most people are born equal.

People are not made stupid by education per se, they can be made ignorant by a total lack of education, but they are made stupid by the wrong sort of education.

[heybruce]

"Channarong said the poor academic achievement resulted from a shortage of teachers, teachers instructing students in subjects for which they are not qualified, and teachers' lack of training in diverse teaching methods relevant to their curricula.

He urged small schools with limited per-head subsidies, which often fall behind in these assessments, to overcome their obstacles by recruiting volunteer teachers (such as university students or parents) and creating "friend-help-friend" networks with nearby schools to boost academic achievement."

In other words, the problem is with the education system. The solution is for the small school in the villages, where a few overworked teachers are trying to teach all subjects to all students, to figure something out on their own. That should be no problem so long as every village has a pool of university graduates and parents who have free time and are qualified to teach. Does anyone know of a village like that?

[ccarbaugh]

"Education is the conditioning of mind so that action is not self-centered."

J. Krishnamurti

[dieter1]

McMagus

just google "iq thailand" :

"Thai students found below global average"

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/07/08/national/Thai-students-found-below-global-average-

30159779.html

Thai students found below global average

Iodine Deficiency Blamed For Low IQ Among Thai Children

[khaowong1]

From what I have been able to observe at some small country schools, the problem is, as has been posted here, that the a substantial number of rural school teachers are not qualified to teach. They were hired because of their relationships, sisters, brothers, cousins, etc., to the rural school administrators or local politicians. I'm not saying all, only way too many. They don't understand the subjects they are teaching and pretty much confuse the children they are supposedly teaching. Just my take on the situation.

[yakster]

I teach at what is meant to be a 'top' school in a rural province, and it is just shocking. The facilities for the children are filthy, and some rooms are in such poor condition there are not enough desks/chairs for all the 60 kids crammed into the room! 60 kids, though teachers get aircon offices! Even the blackboards in some are totally buggered. It is survival of the fittest/luckiest. Of course parents with $$ can pay to get their little ones into 'gifted' classes of just 30 with aircon. Teachers routinely fail to show up for class or come 20-30 minutes late, the school assemblies go over by up to an hour... I will stop here, but I think it is rather painfully obvious that the entire education system here is broken. No one in power, that I have come across, cares about the children's education. Lip service however, is readily available. END RANT.

[sirchai]

A good example to understand the misery at many schools is the institution in my wive's village in lower north east.

We used to live there for one year and our son went to Prathom one.

When we went to see the school, the first what a "teacher" said was that they need new linoleum floors. Okay, we all need something, I thought.

Next destination was the "teachers' office". Some guys were asking me if I wouldn't like to have some Lao Khao with them, it was seven thirty in the morning.

None of them could speak a word in English, some were English teachers, their performance teaching this subject was insane.

And still is, even after ten years.

Most of them copy something out of an English book on the board, kids have to copy it into their notebooks. That's their English lesson.

None of them knows anything about Europe, the UK, or the universe, which I guess must be somewhere in the States.

Now, ten years later almost nothing has changed. Our school is waisting so much time to get the boy scout kids marching.

Lessons are many times canceled for not understandable reasons.

The school is closed for one week because some other kids from different provinces are having a sports week in our province, so they need a place to sleep. They sleep at our school and our kids have another additional week off.

The O-Net tests are obviously a kind of ridiculous, weren't they planning to make them easier?

English O- Net tests are still full of mistakes, also material from the MoE to teach English teachers full of mistakes.

Teachers have to buy their positions, parents have to pay good money to bring their kids into a government school.

Many of them are scared to death when they think about the ASEAN community coming soon.

It's indeed worrisome.............

Edited July 14, 2012 by sirchai

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been removed.

[Rhys]

Interestingly, despite all the challenges, the truly motivated, lucky, and very few students manage to learn.... inspite of the educational abuses.