World Bank zeroes in on Thai education

[webfact]

EDITORIAL
World Bank zeroes in on Thai education
The Nation

But the government is still placing the emphasis on saving face rather than securing the Kingdom's future prosperity

BANGKOK: -- A recent report from the World Bank titled "Thailand's Economic Monitor" shed light on a number of weak points the Kingdom needs to address. Among the most disturbing was the state of the education system here, which clearly requires substantial reform.

According to the report, one-third of 15-year-old Thai students are "functionally illiterate" - they lack the basic reading skills to manage their lives in the modern world, leaving their chances of finding well-paid jobs slim to non-existent.

World Bank Southeast Asia director Ulrich Zachau pointed out that Thailand's export growth has been slowing since 2012, part of a long-term trend. To change that trend, the Kingdom must launch structural reform to bolster the skills and productivity of its labour force. "The single most important thing for Thailand is to improve its education and skills outside Bangkok," Zachau said.

The suggestion is not new. Successive governments have vowed to make education reform a priority, yet student performance has not improved. The World Bank's findings are the latest evidence of that failure. Obviously the gap between what we know of the issues and how to fix them remains as yawning as ever.

Finance Minister Sommai Phasee, presiding at the unveiling of the World Bank report, admitted he has been reluctant to raise the problem in Cabinet because he didn't want to offend the ministers who oversee education.

"I dare not speak up because there are three ministers responsible [for education and skills], and all are soldiers," he said. "We are still not walking the right path and we are still walking slowly."

Sommai said he agrees with the bank's assessment that education and human resources are critical to the future of Thailand's economy and political stability. However, he needs to understand that he has a moral obligation to speak up, regardless of the type of government in place. After all, the matter at hand - the future of the country - far outweighs the egos of a few generals.

This involves more than the quality of our children's education. It extends to the economic well-being of the nation as a whole.

Here, the trend in recent years has been alarming. From 2012 to 2014 exports grew by an average of just 1 per cent annually. This represents a precipitous drop from the 13-per-cent growth between 2006 and 2011.

The World Bank points out that the decline was partly due to eroding competitiveness and slow improvements in productivity compared to other countries.

Moreover, the disparity between public schools in the cities and those in rural areas must be addressed if we are to move forward. This means we need to improve resources for schools in the provinces.

It's wonderful that we can produce a few students who excel in international competitions but, if the majority of their contemporaries are "functionally illiterate", it reflects poorly on Thailand as a nation. More significantly, this disparity will have a negative impact on the country's economic future, as the World Bank report notes.

One of the recommendations the bank offers the government is that smaller rural schools be reorganised and merged into larger institutions. This would optimise teaching efficiency and offer better-quality education in the classroom.

Thailand could slash the number of classrooms with less than one teacher per class from the current 110,725, to 12,600 simply by merging its 9,421 "non-isolated large schools and 16,943 non-isolated small schools", the World Bank says. That would mean the total number of schools dropping to 14,252.

Raising the number of teachers per class upcountry to Bangkok levels could also be achieved by recruiting 160,000 more teachers.

There are no easy decisions, but all constructive measures must be taken into consideration if we want genuine reform that improves education. We can make a start by getting our priorities straight.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/World-Bank-zeroes-in-on-Thai-education-30261651.html


-- The Nation 2015-06-05

[canuckamuck]

Perhaps they should make them study and do their own work instead of the standard copy and cheat system they rely on today.

Edited June 4, 2015 by canuckamuck

[z42]

So the finance minister doesn't have the balls to speak to other cabinet ministers about critically important issues... Unbelievable, with people like that at the helm you gotta wonder what else never sees the light of day.. There's TIT & everything but this is just plain farcical

[Somtamnication]

More minions, more control. Why educate them?

[arthurboy]

I thought Prayuth himself was heading up the education reform taskforce as of a month or two back.

Any news on that? No? Carry on.

[konying]

More minions, more control. Why educate them?

Educated ones with degrees are not exactly beacons of light

Bankers who do not know how to calculate interest rates

Or doctors who do not know the difference between anti bacterial and anti inflammatory

Edited June 4, 2015 by konying

[TimTang]

How will they fill those hundreds of massage parlors if they have educated youth.

[Ichabod]

They have already reformed the Thai curriculum with the 12 values of the military. So, what the elite want is obedience. Could hardly be more clear.

[Manbing]

This is a shocking figure. There needs to be some performance standards for schools.

It's an appalling statistic.

I bet bet David Cameron and Tony Abbott are jealous as he'll. What they wouldn't give for a nation of under educated ready to be employed as cheap labour.

In a state with few welfare resources. It would put their manufacturing aspirations back on the table.

[trogers]

Reel time back to the early 2000s, that's a generation of students.

What had been done since? Nothing. All those monies dumped into Education were simply siphoned off.

What should be done now? We are waiting for the reformation. Things have started on Corruption and the Lottery. Next should be Education.

[Cuchulainn]

...................Finance Minister Sommai Phasee, presiding at the unveiling of the World Bank report, admitted he has been reluctant to raise the problem in Cabinet because he didn't want to offend the ministers who oversee education..................

Unbelievable. Beyond words!!

[Balance]

It has been like this for 100 years since attempts to implement universal education by Rama V ran into resistance from the Bangkok elites. Spending money in the provinces on things like education will never happen until the provinces have control over the taxes they pay.

[DonaldBattles]

Did you ever think that an educated up country population could be a major threat the the elite in Bangkok. As long as I can remember education has been on the bottom of the priority list. This is done by each government for the last 30 years for protection of the People's Republic Of Bangkok.

Knowledge and education are dangerous!

[HerbalEd]

They'd rather save face than save their country and culture. But by so doing they lose it all.

[WitawatWatawit]

Education reform has been a critical, top-of-the-agenda, urgent, crack-the-whip, let's get going, no time to waste priority for 30 years. Why is everyone suddenly in a hurry? A suggestion for Mr Sommai: make sure the next cabinet is comprised of female street sweepers and you can then criticise all you like without fear of offending a precious one's ego.

PS. No offense to female street sweepers. I'm sure they have achieved more substantive work in 30 years than all education ministers combined. Little factoid: In his first three years in power, Thaksin had five education ministers, including himself.

[zappalot]

From my daily experiences I thought education in BKK is really bad to non existent. Now I learn upcountry it is even worse? It cant be worse actually. Thais around me in Bangkok do not understand most easy to explain and common things, not even so called managers with degrees.

I mean good for me, with proper education the value of the country/economy would be higher as well as prices would be. So better to keep the people in this country at their current education level...

[The Deerhunter]

...................Finance Minister Sommai Phasee, presiding at the unveiling of the World Bank report, admitted he has been reluctant to raise the problem in Cabinet because he didn't want to offend the ministers who oversee education..................

Unbelievable. Beyond words!!

Who are all soldiers!!!! (that was the rest of the quote.)

[DLang]

You mean the Thai system of sit still all day, don't question, be quiet, everybody will pass, spend 1/3rd of the school year making cute costumes for 'Sport Day', and half the rest of the day marching and chanting about how great He is, and all Thais are, isn't actually that productive??

Wow.

[DLang]

The Thai version of Face borders on insanity.

And holds the people, society and country back way too much.

Sad.

[Puwa]

First the low IQs, now we learn that a third of 15 year olds are functionally illiterate. All governments over he last 30 years share the blame. Reversing these trends should be the country's top priority, forget high speed trains, Chinese tourists, canals, and riverside promenades. Even with an exceptional effort, it will take 2 generations.

[empireboy]

Perhaps they should make them study and do their own work instead of the standard copy and cheat system they rely on today.

Hmmm... a novel idea!

I like it!!

[Praematura]

I thought Prayuth himself was heading up the education reform taskforce as of a month or two back.

Any news on that? No? Carry on.

Maybe after he finishes the national bike lane program and makes lottery tickets 80 baht. But I think he's busy working on tweaking his weekly show to add a musical guest.

[Just1Voice]

True education reform and improvements in Thailand? Ainnnn't gonna happen in my lifetime.

[FangFerang]

Everyone has known this for years. Like human trafficking, nothing will be done until something forces their hand.

The governments (all) even promote the use of asbestos, saying the dangers are unproven, and allow paint companies to advertise products as lead-free when many Thai "lead free" paints contain over 100 times the level deemed as even being "moderately" safe.

A top-down approach, reinforced by an easily politicized judiciary, coupled with insane anti-defamation laws is a recipe for

long term stupidity.

And PS: How does a former Education Minister become one of the top ten wealthiest men in Thailand? Must be SOME salary, huh?

Edited June 5, 2015 by FangFerang

[FangFerang]

"One of the recommendations the bank offers the government is that smaller rural schools be reorganised and merged into larger institutions. This would optimise teaching efficiency and offer better-quality education in the classroom."

This is very blithely short-sighted. How do they propose the kids travel 30 Km to a school? Rural public schools have no school buses....as far as I know.

[Thaddeus]

...................Finance Minister Sommai Phasee, presiding at the unveiling of the World Bank report, admitted he has been reluctant to raise the problem in Cabinet because he didn't want to offend the ministers who oversee education..................

Unbelievable. Beyond words!!

Who are all soldiers!!!! (that was the rest of the quote.)

I doubt that it would make any difference if they weren't.

It is long overdue for members of Thai society to realise that real boats rock.

[Lupatria]

As Thais copy everything they possibly can they miss out a very lucrative chance. If they come up with a copy of the successful TV-Show "Are you smarter than a fifth grader" it would sell like hot buns (at least outside of LOS). There is always a market for products that make people laugh.

Wonder how the World Bank zeros in on zero...

Edited June 5, 2015 by Lupatria

[billd766]

"One of the recommendations the bank offers the government is that smaller rural schools be reorganised and merged into larger institutions. This would optimise teaching efficiency and offer better-quality education in the classroom."

This is very blithely short-sighted. How do they propose the kids travel 30 Km to a school? Rural public schools have no school buses....as far as I know.

I DO know as I live in rural Thailand.

Out here in rural Thailand where I live pickups are the school buses and have been for a long time.

When my son first went to school he used to catch the school bus for the 15km trip. When we changed his school he caught the school bus for that school 50 km away.

When we changed his school again he catches the private minibus that takes him and 15 others 65 km to Khampaeng Phet to a better school. That costs me 2,000 baht per month.

If you are out on the roads in rural Thailand from 6 to 8am you will see hundreds of school buses and the same thing in the afternoon between 3 and 5.30pm doing the return trip.

[fred Kubasa]

One third,( 1/3 rd. ), of Thai students are " functionally illiterate " and that is in the THAI LANGUAGE so, probably

80 to 90 % are F.I. in any other language !

[Thai at Heart]

As Thais copy everything they possibly can they miss out a very lucrative chance. If they come up with a copy of the successful TV-Show "Are you smarter than a fifth grader" it would sell like hot buns (at least outside of LOS). There is always a market for products that make people laugh.

Wonder how the World Bank zeros in on zero...

They tried The Weakest Link. They didn't like it