Thai education reform: Trat school a reform role model

[webfact]

EDUCATION REFORM
Trat school a reform role model
Pratch Rujivanarom
The Nation

Students' studies in step with local labour demands

BANGKOK: -- MATCHING education reform to the labour needs of a province is well illustrated at Trat's Khaonoi Wittayakom High School, where students learn the necessary skills for studying further at vocational schools or finding a job after graduating.

School director Prathan Tawiphon said Khaonoi had 10 after-school skill-training activities to give students vocational skills and encourage them to enter vocational education, in order to tackle unemployment and encourage students to work in their hometown.

The Provincial Education Reform programme is led by Quality Learning Foundation (QLF), which presented Trat as a role model for the initiative due to the success it has had in

cooperating with all sectors to promote vocational education to fulfil the province's labour needs.

Suwitthaya Thongkam, a Mattayom 6 (Grade 12) student, said most after-school activities related to agricultural skills because most students' families were farmers. He was taking part in an orchid-cultivation activity, which could see him earn more than Bt10,000 per month from selling orchids.

"Even though I did not choose to study at a vocational school like many of my friends, I think I shall study at the Faculty of Agriculture at Kasetsart University, because I am interested in orchid cultivation and I shall work here in Trat as an orchid farmer," he said.

Prathan said the school had received help from Trat Community College in terms of instilling teachers and student with vocational skills.

He said that along with providing students with agricultural skills, the school also had accounting and Cambodian-language classes.

"Last academic year, 60 per cent of our students studied further at local vocational schools, while most of the remaining 40 per cent chose to study a

vocational field at university," he said.

"However, we don't remove opportunities for students with talents in other subjects."

Tanya Hanphon, chairman of Trat's Education Reform Project committee, said education reform was needed in the province, as many new graduates were not in step with local labour needs and had to travel to Bangkok to find a job - or end up unemployed.

Tanya said that under the

project primary and high schools encouraged students to study more vocational skills and get parents to view vocational study in a positive light.

"Trat's economy is run by the three major sectors here: agriculture, trans-border trade and tourism, and all sectors need skilled workers at the vocational level," he said.

"Therefore, what we try to do here is encourage our children to study a vocational degree so they will have a job and can work in their hometown after they graduate.

"We need 70 per cent of the students to study at a vocational branch and 30 per cent to study at a standard branch, but currently the situation is the other way around."

However, he said that going to university or a vocational school straight away was not a necessity, as it was better to let new graduates start working and help develop their hometowns and then they could study at a higher learning institution later in life.

Trat Primary Educational Service Area deputy director Thanachai Upa-rirat said that by equipping students with more vocational skills, it gave them a chance to discover what area(s) they have an aptitude for and if vocational study suits them.

"The four vocational institutes in Trat also take part in the

education reform," Thanachai said. "They work together with the public schools by providing lecturers for specific skills to teach students and help guide students with their study plans."

Pattanapong Sukmadan, the QLF academic handling the Trat education reform project, said that the province had an outstanding reputation among the 15 provinces involved in the project because it cooperates with every sector to bring about reform.

Pattanapong said that since the project launch three years ago, Trat's education had progressed a lot and it could be a role model for other provinces.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Trat-school-a-reform-role-model-30267795.html


-- The Nation 2015-08-31