Vocational schools meet on possible merger



BANGKOK, 15 February 2016 (NNT) - The Vocational Education Commission (VEC) has convened a meeting of executives of vocational schools following the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)’s command to merge public schools with private schools.

Chaiyapruek Sereerak, secretary-general of the Vocational Education Commission, has met with the Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC), the Federation of Private Vocational Schools of Thailand, and other related agencies to discuss the possibility of merging public and private vocational schools in compliance with Article 44 of the interim constitution which is being enforced by the NCPO.

Mr Chaiyapruek said relevant agencies had been talking about the issue for the past 6-7 months and had formed five responsible committees to mobilize the policy. He believed the NCPO’s order would work to their advantage and pave the way for educational reform.

At present, there are 425 vocational institutions owned by the state and 461 private vocational institutions, with 674,000 students and 325,000 students respectively.


-- NNT 2016-02-15

This is an interesting article that leaves the reader with some important questions.

Is the government going to start claiming ownership of private businesses, or do they expect the private businesses to take over and run the government schools?

If the former, where do they stop? It would be very scary to learn the government was going to start deciding they can just take businesses. It is a surefire way to bring foreign investment to a screeching halt.

poor reporting

What's actually happening is that private vocational colleges do not want to be under OPEC as they believe OPEC focuses on basic education and doesn't understand their concerns or problems. Now, all vocational colleges are under the VCE.

The wording of this report suggests government and private vocational will 'merge' ie share facilities and locations. This isn't what has happened.