Thai talk: Why education reform must be driven by the private sector

[webfact]

THAI TALK
Why education reform must be driven by the private sector
Suthichai Yoon
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- When the country's top 25 business tycoons met Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha last week, they probably discussed the full range of "opportunities" available to the government and business leaders. Which topics were discussed behind closed doors wasn't disclosed, though senior officials did "leak" one story.

It was hardly dramatic information. Nor was its disclosure politically motivated, coming as it did from an unnamed source who was obviously close to Deputy Premier Somkid Jatusripitak, who had engineered this "event" at Government House.

The leak revealed that a common concern shared during over three hours of chit-chat was the "quality of education".

Unsurprisingly, it didn't make any headlines - rather than a "sexy" topic, it was more like flogging a dead horse. But the fact that education came to the fore offered hope that the one issue which could make or break the country's future is being taken seriously at a high level.

I was thus disappointed to discover that there was no official record of the much-hyped meeting's final decision on the subject. We are still in the dark over how big business, with all its power to finance the country's most important reform agenda, will play a concrete role in overhauling the country's education system.

The leak also revealed that some businesses had proposed admitting university students for internships. Others suggested partnering with the Ministry of Science and Technology to promote innovation, research and design in education. Meanwhile owners of major shopping mall chains proposed putting SME products on their shelves to help small businesses survive the tidal wave of competition.

There was no doubt that good intentions were expressed and good will was exchanged. But will nice gestures from some of the country's most wealthy people lead to real changes in the country's education system?

If the past is any indication, the answer is no. Yet the power the nation's business leaders possess, if properly tapped, could make desperately needed education reforms a reality.

I am not suggesting they can shake up the highly bureaucratic education agencies. In fact, any attempt to launch reform from within the Education Ministry would be futile from the outset. Decades of efforts along these lines have either been nipped in the bud or have ended in abysmal failure.

Change to the country's entrenched education system can only come from outside - and the private sector, which has become the most obvious victim of the failure to boost education standards, must take a pro-active role.

The private sector is all too aware of the failure of the country's universities and vocational schools to meet the fast-changing demands of the job market. As both parents and employers, the realisation must have dawned on businesspeople that our schools and higher-education institutions have not been able to produce the "citizens with sound minds and hearts" that are so vital to the creation of a truly democratic society.

If critical thinking and a culture of innovation are crucial to pulling Thailand out of the "middle-income trap", the country's business community must play a more active role in providing the necessary support in terms of funding, incentivising and aiding the design and implementation of new education models that fulfil the requirements and aspirations of the 21st century.

The traditional Corporate Social Responsibility activities are no longer sufficient. Handing out scholarships and planting trees in the name of "doing good for society" have become counter-productive, used by some companies as mere publicity gimmicks with no clear measurement of whether society really benefits from such gestures.

The country's top businesses have a responsibility - which must now be backed by commitment and a sense of duty - to contribute to education reform in ways that demonstrate originality, devotion and sacrifice.

Philanthropy is only a very small fraction of this new initiative. The private sector must seek the prime minister's commitment to break down barriers, open new doors and build bridges between government agencies so that the private sector, non-government organisations, and professional bodies can move together to reverse the decline in our education standards.

If the future of the country is innovation, research and design, the government must let the private sector lead the way. That will not happen spontaneously, no matter how many "summits" are held between the PM and the tycoons. The first draft of Thailand's 21st Century Education Model must come from the country's business practitioners, professionals and marketers.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Why-education-reform-must-be-driven-by-the-private-30274607.html


-- The Nation 2015-12-10

[Lunchbob]

No uniforms. Each student chooses the classes they want for their major and not forced to go with the same cohort from class to class. Electives. Lots of electives in many fields and the space to take them. Let students own their campus, their dorms, their selves. Leave them alone and let them explore. Thai professors. Tell the truth about the gameness of the system. Stop telling them to buckle down, behave, study harder, blah blah. Instead, teach in a way that is exciting, inspiring and provocative. Your students are not motivated because they are BORED. Students must pay for their classes so serve them in an honest way. University is where you can try new ideas and really screw up without many consequences, but they learn.

[FourAces]

No uniforms. Each student chooses the classes they want for their major and not forced to go with the same cohort from class to class. Electives. Lots of electives in many fields and the space to take them. Let students own their campus, their dorms, their selves. Leave them alone and let them explore. Thai professors. Tell the truth about the gameness of the system. Stop telling them to buckle down, behave, study harder, blah blah. Instead, teach in a way that is exciting, inspiring and provocative. Your students are not motivated because they are BORED. Students must pay for their classes so serve them in an honest way. University is where you can try new ideas and really screw up without many consequences, but they learn.

Sigh! nice post, but trying to get the Thais to understand that, will be the same as Galileo trying to tell everyone the world is not flat.

Thailand has a stagnate culture and social system, apart from the western influences, of Technology, capitalisim and comercialism, I don't think that much has changed since the heady days of Rama V

[zaphod reborn]

In fact, any attempt to launch reform from within the Education Ministry would be futile from the outset.

Wouldn't that be because the MOE is siphoning all the funding so almost none of it actually reaches the schools and teachers?

[selftaopath]

So Thai government schools ought to be "fixed" by businesses? Well because the governments of Thailand have been and will remain unable to improve Thai education I suppose someone "out there" ought to. Minds are being wasted.

This seem so typical of the Thai mind-set:

Change to the country's entrenched education system can only come from outside - and the private sector, which has become the most obvious victim of the failure to boost education standards, must take a pro-active role.

No Thai government will ever take - no Thai for that matter will either - responsibility for any failing situation/behavior. This is TAUGHT in the West. Thailand doesn't stand a chance and in so many ways a lost cause.

[trainman]

In fact, any attempt to launch reform from within the Education Ministry would be futile from the outset.

Wouldn't that be because the MOE is siphoning all the funding so almost none of it actually reaches the schools and teachers?

Whilst I have little doubt that the MOE takes 'commission' from its various funding strands, I can assure you that a helluva lot of money still reaches the schools, particularly those in Bangkok and Greater Bangkok. What the schools and their directors choose to do with the money is another thing entirely.

[yellowboat]

These business titians easily afford private tuition and overseas schooling. They have avoided the local educational system. They probably enjoy the unfair advantage it affords them. Asking them to fix it seems a bit odd and poorly thought out.

Didn't FaceBook try to fix some schools in New Jersey ? Was it successful ? Would these Thai businesses be more effective than Facebook ?

[bangon04]

"When the country's top 25 business tycoons met Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha last week, they probably discussed the full range of "opportunities" available to the government and business leaders. Which topics were discussed behind closed doors wasn't disclosed,"

They were comparing notes on which private schools overseas their kids were attending.

[arrowsdawdle]

Seems like the tourism culture, stay home and just send money.

"Why can't we stay home and just buy a diploma?"

[gandalf12]

Until students are encouraged and allowed to disagree with ideas openly and challenge ideas without fear of being discriminated against things will never change. The concept that you must do what the boss tells you without question is ridiculous. I have argued vermently with my boss at times as I knew he was wrong. Eventually we came to an agreement we both could accept and moved forward.

Thai's look on the bosses as all knowing, well here is an eye opener they dont know everything in fact many know nothing.

This attitude of disagreeing is not accepted in Thailand but needs to be if the country is going to move forward. There are a lot of very bright Thai's, I have worked with some of them on jobs, but the majority are scared to disagree with anyone who is in a higher position than they hold.

Teach students to think for them selves, no questions in exams that the answers can be looked up in a book as most real life problems are not in books. Do this and Thailand can become a power to be reckoned with.

[Snackbar]

Working at a research institute I see 'favourable' academics conduct research into improving the education system. All well meaning but these academics gained their qualifications the Thai way. And conduct their research for their own gain.

They're all at it. Not worth the paper it's written in.

Throwing cash at the problem is not the answer.

[optad]

The problem is structural in a personal and power based sense with current administrators and aspirant administrators. The old caste thing.

Get private enterprise equivalences in to compete [with subsidies] in real school situations. Yes, govt funded schools to co-exist and force standards up against a semi private based schools inside their zones. The Thai curricula alongside a choice based curriculum in each school enabling student responsibility for learning to really happen. It will go close to lunchbob's dream in time above. Make bilingualism a prerequisite for tertiary study.

There a million ways we could find constructive ways of adding solutions for a second generation's future but it will not be internally sponsored. It must be a structural address that means personnel castrations.

Education and health was always best left socialized. However, enterprise unfortunately might be the only fix considering how damaged Thailand education system really is atm.

Edited December 10, 2015 by optad

[Srikcir]

Autocracy is sustained by exclusivity.

Democracy is created by equality.

Prayut has his roadmaps.

The Thai People have only a compass.

Never shall the twain meet.

[h90]

No uniforms. Each student chooses the classes they want for their major and not forced to go with the same cohort from class to class. Electives. Lots of electives in many fields and the space to take them. Let students own their campus, their dorms, their selves. Leave them alone and let them explore. Thai professors. Tell the truth about the gameness of the system. Stop telling them to buckle down, behave, study harder, blah blah. Instead, teach in a way that is exciting, inspiring and provocative. Your students are not motivated because they are BORED. Students must pay for their classes so serve them in an honest way. University is where you can try new ideas and really screw up without many consequences, but they learn.

And kick out the weakest 50%.