The Have Nots Are Denied Quality Education When It Becomes A Business: Chalk Talk

[webfact]

CHALK TALK
The have nots are denied quality education when it becomes a business
Chularat Saengpassa

BANGKOK: -- LIKE IT OR NOT, many well-known schools in Thailand have decided to embrace a business-like approach to introducing new courses and recruiting new students.

And when the sense of business comes to play, someone obviously has to pay.

The haves pay in cash, while the have-nots pay by losing an opportunity to get good education.

That's why so many parents have to struggle so hard to save enough money for their children's schooling, despite the government's so-called 12 years of free education.

Since schools are becoming so business-oriented, parents now also have to choose extra courses for their child.

Schools are now offering several different programmes for primary and secondary school. For instance, several top schools are offering an English Programme (EP), a mini-EP, a special course for gifted students and a general programme.

If parents want anything other than the general programme, they will have to pay more and more and more schools are offering these special classes because they want to make money.

For parents, special courses at state schools are appealing because they are not subject to the Education Ministry's rules that require priority to be given to local children. Over the past decade, several popular schools have had to hold lucky draws to select applicants for seats earmarked for children from the neighbourhood. When local children are allocated many seats, popular schools end up having limited seats for children living in other zones.

So, if parents want to boost their children's chance in getting into these famous schools, these special courses become a must.

One mother said that if her son was only undergoing the general course, his school would have only charged her Bt15,000 per semester. However, she's been having to pay an extra Bt10,000 per semester so her son can go through the course for gifted children.

According to the Education Ministry's regulations, schools can collect up to Bt35,000 in tuition fees from students in the EP. This wipes out any chance of there being equal opportunities for all.

Parents must be ready to pay if they are going to pave the way for their children's entry into the best of schools and also the best courses available. If they do not have money, their children's access to good-quality education is restricted from the very beginning.

Children from well-to-do families, therefore, enjoy the privilege of having many great choices.

Their parents can pay the application fees |at many schools, and many can even pay for courses that their children will not attend in the end.

With their newly honed business sense, many schools are now requiring successful applicants to pay tuition fees before they announce successful candidates. This way, some applicants lose money if they opt for a better school.

Universities are doing a similar thing as well. They started offering various courses and now hold many rounds of entrance exams via a direct-admission system.

A man in Phuket said he has spent several thousand baht in his child's attempt to get into a good university in Bangkok. Apart from application fees, he has had to cover travel and accommodation expenses.

"As my son has had to make several attempts, I have had to spend a lot of money," this father lamented.

These scenarios show how things have been changing in Thailand's educational scene in recent history and the trend suggests that money is going to continue playing a very prominent role unless somebody rises against it right now.

No matter how much policy-makers across the world continue preaching about equal access to education, the real situation is quite the opposite. Educational institutions are selling themselves based on their reputation, and parents who can afford it are ready to pay. Since their own children's future is of top concern, they are ready to leave the future of other kids in the hands of the government.

Should the government then step in to break this competitive environment?

CHULARAT SAENGPASSA


-- The Nation 2013-03-04

[Locationthailand]

Education is now simply a business and the costs associated with 'buying' education - a rip off. Regent just build another school. Money to build was enormous as are their fees.

[belg]

is it different in the best country of the world (LOL) USA ... where you have to take student loans $50.000 - $200.000 dollar to get a descent education ???

in european countries the governement steals 50% of your gross salary + makes you pay 21% VAT on everything, so you are left with 39% of your net income

but at least ... education is good and as good as free and everybody can attends UNI if their grades are up , health care, will take 25 euros to see a doctor and in most cases you get back 17 euros ...

and you get a pension.... and you can apply for social welfare...

sadly enough, last 10 - 20 years, the countries are flooded with no education immigrants, that do not work, do not contribute, only cost money, only know their rights, but no obligations ...

[Johnnie99]

I liked how the article put it - 'schools are becoming so business-oriented' - almost as if a) it's a new idea and no one knew before. The problem is that no one fails in the Thai system and all the nouveau-riche (are there any other sort in Thailand?) think it makes them oh so important to send children to an international' school. After many years of experience here, in education, I can assure them that the quality of education is far greater in Thai Government schools than fee-paying schools.

The social aspirations of those of this in a developing country, such as this, means that anything claiming to be 'international' simply must be worth having, without looking at anything more than the supposed social status which that implies. Sigh. It implies nothing of the kind, to those who know.

And finally, the children miss out on a decent education. All for the social status of their parents.

[cup-O-coffee]

Another vague article about the woes of the Thais and their education system, but it misses one point from all of this fuss; What kind of jobs are we talking about? And if most readers conceive the kind of answer I have on that question, then the next question is, "What's the point?".

The job market is already saturated. The unemployment lines are full of people queued up around the building, and there are more who haven't shown up yet. Thailand will try to gear itself up to improve their graduates abilities, but for what?

It is true that the education system will never become what these people say, and the graduates they describe for the future will also never be realized. Nothing will change except the complaining, which is what Thais do best. What I see and read about now is but one facet of the stupidity from the past that has lead to this outcome. There are too many cooks in the kitchen with their fingers in the pie pan. The pie that finally gets served is usually bits of burnt crust.

Nothing new here except the same BS with a new twist.

[Newguy70]

is it different in the best country of the world (LOL) USA ... where you have to take student loans $50.000 - $200.000 dollar to get a descent education ???

I think you may be a bit misinformed...

In the United States public school is free. Maybe you are thinking of the fees associated with attending a university.

[TravelerEastWest]

is it different in the best country of the world (LOL) USA ... where you have to take student loans $50.000 - $200.000 dollar to get a descent education ???

I think you may be a bit misinformed...

In the United States public school is free. Maybe you are thinking of the fees associated with attending a university.

Public universities are a great bargain in the states. The private schools are expensive but usually only good students get into the really good schools and scholarshipd will often take care of poor students.

Here are the California State University tuition rates:

http://www.calstate.edu/budget/student-fees/mandatory-fees/1213-feeschedules.shtml

Student Type/Units Per Semester Per Quarter Per Academic Year

Undergraduate Programs

6.1 or more $5,472

0 to 6.0 $3,174

Credential Programs 6.1 or more $6,348

0 to 6.0 $3,684

Graduate and Other Post-Baccalaureate Programs

6.1 or more $6,738

0 to 6.0 $3,906

Edited March 4, 2013 by TravelerEastWest

[aussiebebe]

One of my Thai friends has two kids in a private school and just received a letter that the fees would rise due to the government needing to recruit more teachers. It's hardly as if most Thai people have incomes that can cope with sudden rises like this. It seems madness that the government wasted all the money on tablets and is then subjecting less-affluent people to sudden tuition fee rises. Under the last PM, uniforms and text books were subsidised and now the everyone-rich-in-6-months-BS is creating real problems for average Thai families.

[SlyAnimal]

If the government wants to increase education parity between the rich and the poor, then they need to find a way to assist the poorer schools more.

The reason why parents are willing to pay so much for education, is because there's a huge gap between the good schools/classes and the bad.

But there will always be a big difference between the education levels of the rich and the poor in Thailand. The rich generally have a much bigger focus on education, and send their children to afterschool tutoring and special classes in the holidays, that's something which is beyond the government's control, and the poorer families can't compete with that.

That's just the way of the world, it's difficult to work your way up. Although at least low/no interest student loans are available so that anyone is able to goto University if they can focus enough within the school system to finish high school.