Four Thai education ministers in two years is too many

[webfact]

BURNING ISSUE
Four ministers in two years is too many
Chularat Saengpassa
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- With the latest change in the man at the helm of the Education Ministry, any hope for a better education system is faltering.

It's not that the new education minister is a bad choice. But just that the government's lukewarm attention to educational issues has becomes obvious.

Since Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra came to power in August 2011, she has named four different men as education minister.

Had she carefully picked her choice, the country would have not seen four men rising to the helm of the Education Ministry in less than two years.

Her first nominee, Worawat Auapinyakul, was remembered for developing a new line of command for the country's educational sector. He believed units under his ministry should be divided by zone when it came to the line of command. So, he assigned his deputies to oversee zones, not agencies. Worawat also boasted about a project to have students speak at least one English word a day after the daily flag-raising ceremony at schools.

All his initiatives soon disappeared. Worawat, after all, was minister for just a little over six months.

His successor, Suchart Tadathamrongvej, lasted a little longer, managing to stay at the helm for more than eight months.

During his tenure, he courted much controversy by suggesting that popular schools should be allowed to accept "tea money" and allocate such donations to help improve educational services for all. Due to strong opposition, Suchart later backtracked.

Not long after, Phongthep Thepkanjana replaced him. Under his leadership, the Education Ministry unveiled a grand plan to drastically change the country's curriculum. In line with this, hundreds of hours are due to be removed from school students' class schedules, to allow them to learn more outside the classroom.

Phongthep has solid reasons to support this plan. While Thai students spend many hundreds of hours in class, their academic performance is poorer on average than their peers from countries that require much less time learning.

Just a few weeks ago, Phongthep said he really hoped he would be able to complete the educational and curriculum reform during his tenure. But his hope was dashed.

Chaturon Chaisang has now replaced Phongthep as education minister.

While Chaturon has vowed to continue with Phongthep's policies, not all educators are convinced this can happen.

Dr Chuangchote Bhuntuvech, former president of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, believes the repeated changes in the choice of minister had already doomed the country's ongoing educational reform.

To him, there is nothing to hope for in educational reform anymore because, clearly, the country has not had any solid leader to spearhead and direct this reform.

Why has Yingluck changed the education minister so often?

Observers can't help feeling she has treated this post as a political piece of cake to hand out to the politician who has given her camp good service. Perhaps, she does not really think about what the appointed minister will do for the educational sector.

Her government, after all, is very focused on populist policies. It cares much about the One Tablet Per Child scheme. It pushes hard for the project to provide seed money or soft loans to fresh graduates.

After nearly two years in office, Yingluck has attended Education Commission meetings only twice. At one of these, she instructed the Ministry to produce graduates for her government's Bt2 trillion infrastructure mega-projects and the Bt350-billion water-management schemes.

In public interviews, Yingluck has hardly addressed educational policies.

If the government leader gives so little attention to education, the public should realise there's really little hope of seeing any real improvement in Thai education.


-- The Nation 2013-07-04

[MaxLee]

Technically speaking, every Thai person with a high status, zero tolerance attitude, with a powerful and influential feudal family mafia circles, with an intent to go I over dead bodies, who BY THE WAY has BOUGHT his university degree for cheap, can take EVERY minister spot he or she desires, and avoid punishment or accountability altogether. There's no way the feudal family clans will cause him or her losing face, so they just swap towards banishment for a few years and get elected in other positions...

[rkidlad]

I don't think it's too many. I think it's very fair. You shouldn't allow one pig to feed from the trough all the time. You need to feed all the other pigs, too.

[kurnell]

The boss of my old company completed his doctorate in Adelaide, Australia via correspondence (or rather someone in his office did it for him), so is it safe to assume that all rich people in Thailand have done the same thing?

[BrianCR]

It is safe to say that nearly all of the Hi-So's and their offspring have studied overseas at some time or other. But, even Hi-So's need factory fodder to keep their money making machines operating. In order to help with this, the "Education Minister" just needs to keep the "play" schools open!

Edited July 4, 2013 by BrianCR

[yoshiwara]

It is safe to say that nearly all of the Hi-So's and their offspring have studied overseas at some time or other. But, even Hi-So's need factory fodder to keep their money making machines operating. In order to help with this, the "Education Minister" just needs to keep the "play" schools open!

Crude.

[Roadman]

It is safe to say that nearly all of the Hi-So's and their offspring have studied overseas at some time or other. But, even Hi-So's need factory fodder to keep their money making machines operating. In order to help with this, the "Education Minister" just needs to keep the "play" schools open!

Crude.

...and true.

[bkkgriz]

In eight years of teaching at the same school here in Thailand I have seen many education ministers come and go. What changes have I seen? NONE! Sure, there have been some very cosmetic changes. The one word a day project was discussed and then forgotten. The tablets have been a huge joke. There has been no change in cirriculum. The hours of instruction has actually increased. The hoops foreign teachers have to jump through to stay legal have increased. I could go on listing problems with the education system, but I don't want to bore you all. It is a mess. I doubt anything will change much as the elite would rather keep most of the population ignorant.

[DocN]

...and obviously still not enough, to overhaul a broke down education system...

[thaicbr]

In eight years of teaching at the same school here in Thailand I have seen many education ministers come and go.  What changes have I seen? NONE!  Sure, there have been some very cosmetic changes.  The one word a day project was discussed and then forgotten.  The tablets have been a huge joke.  There has been no change in cirriculum.  The hours of instruction has actually increased.  The hoops foreign teachers have to jump through to stay legal have increased.  I could go on listing problems with the education system, but I don't want to bore you all.  It is a mess.  I doubt anything will change much as the elite would rather keep most of the population ignorant. 

Good post..... but who are the elite?

Are they as BrianCR says every factory/ business owner or what?

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE Q6

[jalansanitwong]

I'm surprised they even have an education ministry in Thailand. Since when do the rich care about education for the masses?

Virtually all rich Thais are educated overseas in Europe USA and Australia expecially post grad level.

My local school had 6 farang teachers but they got scammed on overtime now there is only one left. All had legitimate BA MA uni degrees from England. The English course is now suffering but no-one cares.

Keep the masses uneducated so they are forced to send their women overseas to marry and work.............send money home ! Thats their job in life.

[noitom]

The Thai shuffle and responsibility and accountability denial.

[MaxLee]

I'm surprised they even have an education ministry in Thailand. Since when do the rich care about education for the masses?

Virtually all rich Thais are educated overseas in Europe USA and Australia expecially post grad level.

My local school had 6 farang teachers but they got scammed on overtime now there is only one left. All had legitimate BA MA uni degrees from England. The English course is now suffering but no-one cares.

Keep the masses uneducated so they are forced to send their women overseas to marry and work.............send money home ! Thats their job in life.

It's a mafia, programmed to brainwash the entire nation and eradicate any common sense and self expression until the point beyond brain damage repair, which causes frustration, fear, anger, insanity and in a lot of psychological cases and intent to kill for assets

[culicine]

We might make some real progress when the powers that be realise it is not WHAT students learn, but HOW they learn. Rather than racing through as many topics as possible, making them as hard as possible, students should be taken through much more slowly and give them time to digest and understand topics. Until the culture of rote memorisation is reduced to the minimum then we can't make too much progress. My 'best' student got 26/40 on an international standard exam. he is doing medicine here now! However the topics on the exam tested understanding rather than sticking some numbers into a formula. It's not rocket science and I doubt and of these Ministers are stupid, so it seems to me noone really WANTS to change the system...afterall, societies with the least corrupt governments have the highest level of education of their citizens.

[OzMick]

One might even think that the lack of education improvement is intentional. OTOH, PTP have developed a whole new range of scam opportunities.

[culicine]

In eight years of teaching at the same school here in Thailand I have seen many education ministers come and go. What changes have I seen? NONE! Sure, there have been some very cosmetic changes. The one word a day project was discussed and then forgotten. The tablets have been a huge joke. There has been no change in cirriculum. The hours of instruction has actually increased. The hoops foreign teachers have to jump through to stay legal have increased. I could go on listing problems with the education system, but I don't want to bore you all. It is a mess. I doubt anything will change much as the elite would rather keep most of the population ignorant.

In eight years of teaching at the same school here in Thailand I have seen many education ministers come and go. What changes have I seen? NONE! Sure, there have been some very cosmetic changes. The one word a day project was discussed and then forgotten. The tablets have been a huge joke. There has been no change in cirriculum. The hours of instruction has actually increased. The hoops foreign teachers have to jump through to stay legal have increased. I could go on listing problems with the education system, but I don't want to bore you all. It is a mess. I doubt anything will change much as the elite would rather keep most of the population ignorant.

In eight years of teaching at the same school here in Thailand I have seen many education ministers come and go. What changes have I seen? NONE! Sure, there have been some very cosmetic changes. The one word a day project was discussed and then forgotten. The tablets have been a huge joke. There has been no change in cirriculum. The hours of instruction has actually increased. The hoops foreign teachers have to jump through to stay legal have increased. I could go on listing problems with the education system, but I don't want to bore you all. It is a mess. I doubt anything will change much as the elite would rather keep most of the population ignorant.

I think its mainly politicians that want to keep the majority of the populace uneducated - most middle class employers want people that are efficient workers (who can follow instructions) and know how to get on with the tasks they are given and not make stuffups every 5 minutes.

[arthurboy]

Pointless article. Nothing will change.

End of.

[rametindallas]

The old system, that is run by bureaucrats regardless of who is Education Minister, worked fine to feed the manual labor jobs of foreign manufacturers but the ASEAN Economic Community is coming next year. Thailand will have its nose rubbed in its failure to turn out high-level managers and innovators. If they start now they will still be 25 years behind. The world is changing fast and Thailand has remained an island of denial too long. The gap between the rich and poor will enlarge at an even faster pace.

I read where the Thai Language is the only language in the World that puts no spaces between words and Thais have a harder time reading their own language than readers of other languages. Maybe this is part of why most Thais I have met are not interested in reading. If you depend on the spoken word to get your information you will be very limited in what you learn (Red Shirts?). Self education is the way successful people get ahead. English is vital in this new Global economy and Thailand is blessed that many native English speakers want to retire here. How easy it would be to incentivize these retirees to become English teachers in this country if not for the xenophobia that is rampant here. I don't hold out much hope for Thailand becoming a middle class country.

[Mampara]

Isn't this fun! changing the ringmaster every few months, after all our schools are not learning centers any more, they are "Sanook" schools now and the "Sanook" schools have turned every classroom into a circus. The education curriculum is changing from educating the kids to entertaining the kids. we don't need teachers in the classroom anymore we need clowns. The bigger the clown the happier the school.

The big question is, do we really need to educate the masses? or should we just leave the education bit for the wealthy? and what about the masses? we don't need to educate them, we just need to control them.

[MaxLee]

Isn't this fun! changing the ringmaster every few months, after all our schools are not learning centers any more, they are "Sanook" schools now and the "Sanook" schools have turned every classroom into a circus. The education curriculum is changing from educating the kids to entertaining the kids. we don't need teachers in the classroom anymore we need clowns. The bigger the clown the happier the school.

The big question is, do we really need to educate the masses? or should we just leave the education bit for the wealthy? and what about the masses? we don't need to educate them, we just need to control them.

What can one teacher do in a classroom with a 200+ students PER classroom???

Edited July 4, 2013 by MaxLee

[CelticBhoy]

They could have four at the same time and bugger all would improve.

[Noistar]

Technically speaking, every Thai person with a high status, zero tolerance attitude, with a powerful and influential feudal family mafia circles, with an intent to go I over dead bodies, who BY THE WAY has BOUGHT his university degree for cheap, can take EVERY minister spot he or she desires, and avoid punishment or accountability altogether. There's no way the feudal family clans will cause him or her losing face, so they just swap towards banishment for a few years and get elected in other positions...

What's the point of wasting money on a thai university degree? It's a worthless piece of paper. Everyone has one - well almost(!)

Much better to buy a first-world degree if you really want one.

Back on topic.

The whole point is, that the Thai Education Ministry have no apparent interest in making things better. In the first world, the aim is to set the horizon and provide their students with the tools, academic and personal, to allow them to achieve their potential.

My experience is that Thai education is merely a means of going around in circles. You are born, start Kindergarten, it is assumed you will attend university and get a degree. Attend P and M grades, but have achieved nothing tangible by age 16. Schools focus on getting students into university by ramming information into them. Family life suffers so students gain little personal and moral development.

Keep one man at the top or have a new man every month, it doesn't matter. Until somebody lances 'Thai Culture', Thailand and its people will not advance into the future.

Where there's a will there's a way - enough said.

[ezzra]

No wonder, the whole Thai politics based on the musical chairs game, everybody

knows it and everybody Condon it, money and power make politics go around

and around... TIT...

[Jasun]

These ministers should start acting like teachers and stop trying to make things better.

[huangnon]

The whole purpose of the "Thai Education" system is to indoctrinate children from an early age, not educate them.

Pre-school Thai kids are inquisitive, clever, active, and a bit cheeky. Give them a few years in a state school and they become bovine and passive, trapped by language and culture, not enabled by it.

[MaxLee]

The whole purpose of the "Thai Education" system is to indoctrinate children from an early age, not educate them.

Pre-school Thai kids are inquisitive, clever, active, and a bit cheeky. Give them a few years in a state school and they become bovine and passive, trapped by language and culture, not enabled by it.

That's another definition of brain-damage-washing of the entire nation which destroys the persons' capabilities to think out of the box and beyond themselves. PROPAGANDA

[jamhar]

The common denominator between the affluent countries is the education level of the general masses.

Education is expensive, takes decades to take hold. But without an educated general population,

emerging economies will not take hold and the countries will have an uncertain political path.

One caveat are the countries that have won the "oil lottery". These countries may do well for a while

but most may suffer the consequences of the individual lottery winners, where a majority live well for a bit

but without the education and financial discipline that comes with it, will not learn how to grow what they have.

[chooka]

Not even enough time to put the photo of the wife and kids on your desk.

[Thai at Heart]

I'm surprised they even have an education ministry in Thailand. Since when do the rich care about education for the masses?

Virtually all rich Thais are educated overseas in Europe USA and Australia expecially post grad level.

My local school had 6 farang teachers but they got scammed on overtime now there is only one left. All had legitimate BA MA uni degrees from England. The English course is now suffering but no-one cares.

Keep the masses uneducated so they are forced to send their women overseas to marry and work.............send money home ! Thats their job in life.

I understand that a foreign teacher is subsidised by the education ministry to the tune of 45k per month. Where does the other 10 to 15k go?

[IBoldnewguy]

Isn't this fun! changing the ringmaster every few months, after all our schools are not learning centers any more, they are "Sanook" schools now and the "Sanook" schools have turned every classroom into a circus. The education curriculum is changing from educating the kids to entertaining the kids. we don't need teachers in the classroom anymore we need clowns. The bigger the clown the happier the school.

The big question is, do we really need to educate the masses? or should we just leave the education bit for the wealthy? and what about the masses? we don't need to educate them, we just need to control them.

What can one teacher do in a classroom with a 200+ students PER classroom???

Disappear, who would know?