Ministry’s plan to merge schools criticised

[webfact]

Ministry’s plan to merge schools criticised
By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA 
THE NATION 

 

 

Ministry predicts improved quality of education, but ngo fears policy failure.

 

BANGKOK: -- WHILE THE Education Ministry insists its decision to merge small schools is part of a policy to reduce inequality, improve the quality of education and ensure consistent funding, the advocacy group ActionAid has voiced concerns that students may lose the opportunity to be educated and quality could suffer.

 

By 2020, the ministry hopes to merge thousands of small schools that have less than 120 students each with so-called “Magnet Schools” within a six-kilometre radius. 

 

A few small schools were merged in the ministry’s first attempt in 2011, but the effort encountered obstacles such as parents being concerned about longer journeys, issues related to schools’ relationships with their communities and resistance from school administrators who faced losing their jobs. 

 

After local administrative bodies conducted public-information campaigns, the policy will resume with transferring students and shuttering 10,971 small schools over the next five years. The 2016 academic year will see 827 schools, each with 20 pupils, merged with 361 Magnet Schools. 

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30303271

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-01-02

[trogers]

Even if the whole village has only 10 students left, the school should not merge, for the sake of their convenience...

 

Ahhh...why not just close these schools and issue graduation papers to these kids automatically? Cheaper and faster that way...

[JAG]

Note to self: buy old minibus, rip out seats, install 3 lateral rows of benches, ThB 20 a ride, got to be good for ThB 3000 a week. Will keep Best Beloved busy, she hasn't got a driving licence but she won't be going far, anyway she knows how to drive, keeps telling me what to do.....

[arrowsdawdle]

How lame does anybody have to be to not see that education in LOS is subservient to Sakdina and that Thai elites do not want the masses educated so they will only be able to find work in their factories and will not be able to speak English and work in neighboring countries if ASEAN ever becomes a reality?

[robblok]

37 minutes ago, arrowsdawdle said:

How lame does anybody have to be to not see that education in LOS is subservient to Sakdina and that Thai elites do not want the masses educated so they will only be able to find work in their factories and will not be able to speak English and work in neighboring countries if ASEAN ever becomes a reality?

 

Maybe not, but a school with less then 120 students is far to small. A bit bigger is far more economical and if its an extra 6 km ride its nothing. I can perfectly understand this. It would cut out a lot of overhead (need less administrators and so on and save on building cost ect). Seems like a great plan to me. Now big schools don't need to mean the same as big classes. Assuming they keep the same amount of teachers just reduce overhead then the class size wont be bigger. Now with the money saved better education material can be bought and so on.

 

Its a good plan if they can do it but there will be resistance from administrators as a lot will become useless. No problems for the teachers they will always be in demand. This way class size stays the same. 

[Leung Falang]

Almost anything better than 1 drunk principal and 2 teachers for 6 grades.  Many of  the primary schools  are within 1-2 kilometers, 3 km  max.  Critical thinking instead  of rote learning (mostly copying) and being able  to ask questions in school and at  home are  critical as is the elimination of the no student fails  policy. Failure and being held  back  is a motivation to actually learn, or at worst, become a farmer or  push cart expert without  holding back the students eager to  learn.

[elgordo38]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

By 2020, the ministry hopes to merge thousands of small schools that have less than 120 students each with so-called “Magnet Schools” within a six-kilometre radius. 

Makes indoctrination easier. Talk to the masses rather than small classes. I understand that uniform day has been introduced in schools to some extent and the military have fire side chats with the students. "Magnet Schools" a good term magnets for what. 

[Srikcir]

Further centralization of Thailand's school system will lead to even more ministry micromanagement that will discourage (if not obstruct) student/teacher initative and innovation while emphasizing rote learning in an environment of obediance. But if you want a nation of subservient, ideologically malleable citizens, greater centralization has its advantages.