21 Year Old Thai Seeks Educational Path Beyond P3

[DaveBowman]

Hi, all- I've seen some great discussions which had useful information but I'd like to ask the community for some more specific information and advice which might apply to my situation.

 

My Thai friend is 21 years old and due to certain "complexities" early on in her life has completed only Phathom 3. However, now that her life has stabilized she'd like to try to get back on track and improve her prospects so she can support herself. 

 

Currently we plan to visit both AIMS and Bangkok School of Management to have a look at their GED programs. Ideally we would like to find a program that will help her advance with as much support as possible, particularly through the early stages. Although she is reasonably well motivated, her study skills are underdeveloped and some hand-holding or mentoring would be very valuable. I should note that she already speaks English very well.

 

One day she would like to be able to attend university while she is still somewhat in the ballpark in terms of appropriate age so she can fit in socially and hopefully build a social/professional network which might help later. She has no family at all, so she is rather alone.

 

Thank you for reading this, and please feel free to share any thoughts, experiences or perspective which might be of use as we start down what will certainly be a long road. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

 

Thanks again!

[otherstuff1957]

Local MOE offices have adult education classes for people in this situation in almost every province.  Classes are held on weekends and, if I recall correctly, students who work hard can finish the equivalent of 3 years of formal education per year of study, so you friend should be able to get an M6 certificate with 3 years of hard work.

 

These programs are in Thai, rather than English, but she might find this more interesting and useful if she is going to stay in Thailand.

[SlyAnimal]

The programs which otherstuff is referring to are run out of schools which are referred to by the abbreivation "Gor Sor Nor", the full name of which translates to "School of Non Formal Education", basically a school for adults.

Often these aren't necessarily very serious schools, as they recognise that the students are adults and have jobs or families to take care of.  They learn all/most of the school subjects, and although they won't learn the subjects to the same level of competency they would in a high school, they do gain their qualifications faster.  A Gor Sor Nor qualification is the equivalent of high school etc.

 

Your friend will likely already know a lot of details about the Gor Sor Nor, as they are in every Tambon, so she would have had one which was quite close to her village.  My wife occasionally teaches special courses/camps for our local Gor Sor Nor, where she'll teach 1x subject for a week.  The students there are usually such lovely people and so excited to be learning, sometimes I almost wonder if many of them primarily come because it's such a relaxed and social environment.  Although often their existing ability in some subjects, particularly English and Computer Science, are particularly low, although as your friend is young (So likely good with computers) and can speak English already, she'd probably find studying at the Gor Sor Nor to be a breeze.

Once they have finished studying at the Gor Sor Nor they should then be able to apply for a university.  Although most universities have their own entrance examinations, rather than automatic acceptance, so they'd need to be reasonably competent in their chosen subjects.  Although if they studied at Ramkhamhaeng University, it's an open university so they wouldn't need to pass a test for it.  However the subject matter there is just as difficult as at other universities, so she would need to be a quite motivated student to go from a P3 level to a university level within a short time frame.

 

As your friend is still just 21, she's lucky that she has decided to change her mind regarding education now, as she's still young enough that learning should still come easily to her, provided she has the motivation to learn.

 

 

[farangdude84]

If she is very adept at learning, she'll be fine with some hard work.  If she has no clue how to learn, making up so many years of lost academics will be nigh impossible.  Good luck.