Thailand ignores education reform at its own peril

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EDITORIAL
Thailand ignores education reform at its own peril
By The Nation 2011-06-14

The call for meaningful change in our schools goes unheeded by politicians and bureaucrats who cannot think further than their own pockets

Voters have yet to see the political parties' educational platforms, even though the general election is only a few weeks away.

Although politicians often use children to solicit votes - using them in all available photo opportunities - they have so far failed to come up with any policies to ensure the younger generations will grow up enjoying a quality education and supportive learning environment.

Major political parties simply outline their education plans broadly. For instance, the Pheu Thai Party says blandly that education is at the heart of every solution to achieve future prosperity. The Democrat Party says it will create incentives to attract qualified persons to become teachers, as well as continue the free education programme. Neither gives any specifics. The small and medium-sized parties, meanwhile, have not said anything about education.

It is not surprising, as education has never been a priority for political parties, especially now, as they are only interested in announcing short-term policies to attract votes.

The ignorance and inefficiency of our decision-makers has resulted in the falling rank of the Thai educational system in a global survey. A number of weaknesses have been pointed out. For instance, the Thai labour force fails to accommodate the needs of the business sector. Thailand lacks industrial technicians to keep up with increasing demand. The level of English proficiency of Thai students is at the lower end of the survey.

The challenge for educational reform is how to provide equitable access and quality education to all children. Thailand has so far failed to achieve in both areas.

Hundreds of thousands of children are denied educational opportunity for various reasons such as poverty, lack of family support, homelessness or non-citizenship.

The lack of a supportive environment can also contribute to the dropout rate of Thai students. More than 2 million children drop out of middle school to go into unskilled jobs every year.

There are various options to assist these children. Schools and educational institutes could provide a support network to assist with after-school programmes or mentoring programmes. But the existing education system is too rigid. While the resources in public schools are limited, it is difficult for outside organisations to provide supplementary programmes to assist students. Without sufficient assistance to encourage underprivileged children to stay in school, they are prone to various risk factors such as crime and drugs.

Much has been said about Thai students' need to use English properly. But a more fundamental issue is whether the Thai education system teaches students to think, analyse and communicate effectively. Has the Thai curriculum made students understand themselves and their environment? Has our school system enabled students to develop based on their skills, instead of moulding them to certain norms?

Most students aspire to study in a field that will provide them with a high return in an industrial society. Curricula encourage them to follow a mould in which a desirable goal is to gain employment in a company. Rural graduates move to Bangkok every year because they are not instilled with ambition to use their talents in their own communities. Many of these graduates end up working in mediocre jobs.

The current schooling system ignores students' special skills or potential to develop, and does not encourage them to be innovative or think outside the box. Students are judged by their ability to remember the correct answers in multiple choice questions instead of their ability to write good essays or to express their thoughts.

Unfortunately, political parties have so far failed to recognise the imperative of meaningful educational reform. They only focus on flashy advertisements which fail to address the real challenges of educational reform. The Cabinet every year approves a massive budget for education. But most of it is stolen or squandered by politicians and bureaucrats at the expense of our children.

The future is not promising. In spite of the widely debated issue of education reform, politicians have nothing to offer except giveaway gadgets. This is not a solution for the future of our country.

Perhaps, instead of creating a new breed of teachers, our priority should be to re-educate our politicians.