Education official sounds literacy alert
The Nation

About 580,000 Thais aged over 15 years are completely illiterate, Education Ministry permanent secretary Suthasri Wongsamarm said yesterday.

She was referring to findings from the latest survey by the Office of Non-Formal and Informal Education.

The survey also found that at least a million others had a very low level of literacy. People in this group could not use their reading, writing and arithmetic skills to answer questions, she said. "Some 1.1 million people aged between 15 and 59 years old are described as having a low level of literacy. They can use those skills to answer just a few questions," Suthasri said.

So far, she said, the findings were from a preliminary survey only.

"We will need to develop standard tests to determine Thais' literacy. Relevant authorities should consult the National Institute of Educational Testing Service," she said.

-- The Nation 2014-03-07

Not surprised. I have a 15 year old in my primary 5 class and a 14 year old in my primary 6 class. All very nice kids, but failing in every subject and repeating the class.

This system desperately needs special schools and classes. I have autistic, dyslexic and "other" in most of my classes. No separation, but total disruption for the entire class.

While you're at it, could you add a section on logic to this standard test? Pretty please??

how much did they spend on the rice pledging scheme...? priorities eh?!

I have taught (briefly) in Thai government schools and found the lack of funding and the tumble-down classrooms a national disgrace. Most of the teachers were wonderful people trying their best with few textbooks, no IT provision and a curriculum that stresses nationalism and pseudo militarism over language, maths and science. And as everyone knows the English teaching is lamentable. Some of the more enterprising schools club together to buy 1/3 of a native English speaker - the 1/3 wage is about the same as a full time Thai member of staff. This has suited the elite for generations as it provided the compliant population they wanted but nowadays with the ASEAN market up and coming, the country is being found out.

Follow the money!!!!!!!!!!!!

About 580,000 Thais aged over 15 years are completely illiterate, Education Ministry permanent secretary Suthasri Wongsamarm said yesterday.

Hey, education official, whose fault is that then?

Hardly surprising given the mentality of those running the country.......i thought the numbers would be higher.

It would be shocking if mid term and final exam booklets for seniors of a top Thai university were viewed. Granted the courses were in English, nevertheless, the abilities of top three or four Thai university seniors is astonishingly low. Many of their essays on simple subject matter are virtually unintelligible.

Do you really expect anything better with the state of our education system at the moment! With teachers that come from the stone age, that are afraid of change, and foreign teachers that are recruited from Kosan Road by so called education agencies?

More like 580.00 are not completely illiterate, and is it any surprise. Now we have two months School holidays for most, then in Oct another month. When they are there they spend far too long being brainwashed into things Thai, including standing about like soldiers in the morning. When they are meant to be at School the malls and cinemas are still stuffed with kids in School uniform. The classes are overcrowded and some of the teachers paid bribes (I know for a fact) to pass the selection exam held every two years. Dysfunctional education system ends up in a dysfunctional country, and that is what Thailand has become.

Terrible statistics considering that "education" accounts for nearly 30% of government expenditure.

Terrible statistics considering that "education" accounts for nearly 30% of government expenditure.

Yes but not all of that gets spent on education, this is Thailand remember, Land Of Scams.

It would be shocking if mid term and final exam booklets for seniors of a top Thai university were viewed. Granted the courses were in English, nevertheless, the abilities of top three or four Thai university seniors is astonishingly low. Many of their essays on simple subject matter are virtually unintelligible.

I was once asked to proofread a thesis for an MA in English on English by a Thai teacher of English. After just two pages it was clear that the paper did not need editing but wholesale translating into standard English. I told her I was willing to teach her English but that rewriting every single sentence was not sanouk! She was offended because she already had a BA in English.

Just shows the level of both incompetence and self-delusion. I didn't see her again.

Sadly, this is a widespread phenomenon, known as the Dunning-Kruger effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect.

Put cynically, dumb people don't know they are dumb because that would require a level of insight beyond their capacity.

Worse than that, one consequence is that the dumbest are often also the loudest and most confident thereby becoming leaders.

You can see where this is heading.

(Bizarrely, the flipside to this effect is that some of the smartest people show less self-confidence because they erroneously believe that everybody else is equally smart. The whole theory shows a depressingly true picture of how humans organise their societies.)

how much did they spend on the rice pledging scheme...? priorities eh?!

The rice pledging scheme has nothing to do with this. The 1 tablet per child does.

Since the average thai spends more money and more hours of study than almost all of the rest of the world yet their literacy is almost the lowest the scheme for tablets and ideas for teaching at home online and with videos that have been proposed are rediculous.

A friend who is a foreign teacher told me yesterday that he has pictures of what the students were studying just prior to their final test. The thai teacher did not teach the students. Instead she gave her students all the answers in numeric order to her classes so they only had to memormise the answers in order.

So how can thai students learn anything this way

Another teacher told me a private school he works in has no aircon at all. What motivation is there to do anything but be lazy and sleepy all day when you are hot and sweaty. Mind you this is no small private school.

When a student fails their grades are changed to make them pass.

The only way for the next generation to end this illiteracy is to change the systems of educating these kids and give them incentive to want to learn.

It's a shame the education budget doesn't actually trickle down to the students, by the time it is raped at every level there is very little left to benefit the students.

If the figures for the survey are taken from the educational system, 580,000 Thais aged over 15 years are completely illiterate and 1.1 million people aged between 15 and 59 years old are described as having a low level of literacy then there is a huge problem with the educational system.

If the survey has been conducted on a nation wide basis, as would be suggested by the low level of literacy (aged between 15 and 59) then I would be interested on how they arrived at these figures without a large guesstimation factor imputed.

The figures surely couldn't be based on grades while leaving school as nobody is allowed to fail..........................

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It's a shame the education budget doesn't actually trickle down to the students, by the time it is raped at every level there is very little left to benefit the students.

This has always been my thinking as well on the budget, the money is there but never arrives where it is needed.

Thai educational system seems to use worldwide charities as its business model.

About 580,000 Thais aged over 15 years are completely illiterate, Education Ministry permanent secretary Suthasri Wongsamarm said yesterday.

Me thinks the number is considerably higher.

Either way, it is a very serious indictment of the Thai 'educational' system.

It's a shame the education budget doesn't actually trickle down to the students, by the time it is raped at every level there is very little left to benefit the students.

This has always been my thinking as well on the budget, the money is there but never arrives where it is needed.

Thai educational system seems to use worldwide charities as its business model.

Instead of trickling down to the students they are made to pay for almost everything associated with their education. Some schools add an electric bill and housekeeping and landscaping bill to tuition along with the mandatory tutoring and uniforms and books and supplies. So the schools are basically keeping all monies with little to none being used to advance a students chances of learning.

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Sadly, this is a widespread phenomenon, known as the Dunning-Kruger effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect.

Put cynically, dumb people don't know they are dumb because that would require a level of insight beyond their capacity.

Worse than that, one consequence is that the dumbest are often also the loudest and most confident thereby becoming leaders.

You can see where this is heading.

Well, that certainly explains the state of Thai politics.

This does give a rather slanted view of things. Anyone who has lived here for a few years and adopted a rural life will have met many of the half a million plus they are talking about. Personally i have met many including my Wife's 55 year old Sister who only went to school for five years and cannot read or write. However; she has a good brain and a large market business which she has built and run single handed for 30 years. She has three houses, two large gardens full of fruit tree's (at least her Husband helps out a bit here the lazy git ) and the family have two cars and four motorbikes with everything completely paid for by her efforts. She can't read anything but numbers but she knows a good number when she sees a profit in it or a cheap house or plot of land that's on offer.

This is just one example of a good few i could quote and just because people are uneducated it doesn't always mean they are illiterate in the worst sense.

Multiply it by 10 and I might believe it.

Just a suggestion....... OP

DELETE: "We will need to develop standard tests to determine Thais' literacy.

INSERT: We must completely overhaul our 19th century education system, and get ourselves into the 21st century with properly trained teachers, accountable officials, and students who understand failure really does have a consequence in life!

Just a thought

yes because they copy the american schoolsystem!

Occasionally I'm painfully aware that I too am illiterate in this country. With old ears I'm not sure I can even detect the different tonalities, therefore I can be discouraged by the learning curve.

And people wonder why there is so much corruption in this government when a person is easily sueded by a little bit of money to sell their vote to a corrupt politician which will just be worse long term for them.

It would be shocking if mid term and final exam booklets for seniors of a top Thai university were viewed. Granted the courses were in English, nevertheless, the abilities of top three or four Thai university seniors is astonishingly low. Many of their essays on simple subject matter are virtually unintelligible.

was working with some students from chula and they didnt even know how to structure and essay, never mind answering the question instead of rambling on about whatever they felt like writing about. quite shocking.

how much did they spend on the rice pledging scheme...? priorities eh?!

Taken within the context of the annual agricultural subsidies, the rice pledging program will be a blip.

A more appropriate question would be how much is spent on the military and its non defense related commercial and entertainment investments.

If the military was obliged to sell some of its golf courses and country clubs or part of its fleet of luxury automobiles, how much do you think that would net? I'd settle for a clean declaration of non direct military expenditures.

And people wonder why there is so much corruption in this government when a person is easily sueded by a little bit of money to sell their vote to a corrupt politician which will just be worse long term for them.

Your supposition might be valid if and it is a big if, these people voted. There are a number of obstacles that prevent the illiterate from voting.