His Excellency Mr.Sukavich Rangsitpol, Minister of Education of Thailand, launched Thailand Globalization education reforms in 1995.
The goal of the education reform is to realize the potential of Thai people to develop themselves for a better quality of life and to develop the nation for a peaceful co-existence in the global community.
The main aim of education reform is to enhance the quality of education in Thailand towards educational excellence by the year 2007
The objective of education reform is to create learning individuals, organizations and society.
An educated person or the authentic learning outcome should possess the following abilities and characteristics which are based on Thai cultural heritage and appropriate level of education:
good physical and mental health, critical thinking, intellectual inquisitiveness, professionalism, sense of responsibility, honesty, self-sacrifice, perseverance, team spirit, adherence to democracy, and love for the King, country and religion.
1. Goal : to develop education in a manner which is conducive to economic development of the nation and corresponds to the Eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan (NESDP).
At the same time it is to be adjusted in harmony with globalisation to attain educational excellence by the year 2007
2. Rationale : Education is instrumental in :
1) all eviating poverty as well as narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor;
2) human development in accordance with the Eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan which indicates a shortage in qualified workforce;
3) creating peace for mankind;
4) creating national security.
3. The past seven NESDP’s have made such unprecedented economic progress that Thailand’s rates of economic growth remain amongst the highest in the world.
This economic prosperity has unfortunately widened the gap between the rich and the poor resulting in disparities in quality of life.
Only 30% of the population earns more than 50,000 baht per capita per year while 70% or approximately 40 millions earns less than 50,000 baht.
Thus, these 40 millinon people are forced to have a lower quality of life than that of the unskilled workers who earn the minimum wage totaling over 50,000 per year.
Consequently, the offspring of these 40 million poor Thai citizens have unavoidably been deprived of good quality compulsory education.
The matter is worsened when considering their lack of opportunity to undertake a 12 year- continuing education, due to the financial difficulties of their parents.
4. One national policy must stipulate that the State shall render education to its citizens from the cradle to the grave, with the
concept of providing every youth with a good quality 12 year- continuing education, from pre-kinger-garten, through kindergarten, primary, lower secondary, upper secondary, vocational or equivalent to higher educational level.
Within this framework, compulsory education should therefore, be regarded as fundamental for everyone, in enabling them to earn their living and attain a desirable quality of life in society.
For such reasons, the State must has a policy to expand compulsory education from 6 years to 9 years and eventually 12 years.
5. It is the mandate of the Ministry of Education to provide 12 year compulsory education for the 12 million youngsters studying within the formal system, and another 3 millions in the non-formal system.
6. The Ministry of Education is a large organization which employs more than 600,000 teachers and civil servants who serve within 17 main departments and those with the equivalent status.
This workforce undertake the task of administering education from per-pre - primary to higher educational level.
There are more than 40,000 schools and educational institutions covering all areas throughout Thailand.
7. For the past decade, the Ministry of Education has had to encounter a great number of accumulated problems which, while have not been rectified, pose as obstacle for any effort to provide 6 years of good quality education.
Moreover, they also make the task of expanding compulsory education from 6 years to 9 year and eventually 12 years, with the aim of reducing the gap between the rich and the poor and enabling every one to lead to a good life in the society, extremely difficult to fulfill.
The problems which have accumulated during the past decade can be mainly identified as follows:-
1) Insufficient budget. As over 82% of the budget is spent on personnel salary and administrative costs, only 18% is left for educational development which does not correspond with the 40% the country has earmarked for the development budget as a whole;
2) No administrative unity;
3) Vaque educational policies and plans which are not in line with economic development and the fact that the world has now become a global village;
4) Teacher shortage. The fact that no clear solutions have been made aggravates this is the problem in the rural areas;
5) Inefficient budgeting spending as well as low-quality material and equipment procurement. Loose terms of specifications and a priority on lower prices at the expense of quality, result in the malfunction of materials and equipment for school usage;
6) Inappropriate curriculum and learning/teaching processes which do not correspond to the needs of society in relation to its present stage of national development.
Thus, school graduates are unable to apply their acquired knowledge and skills in the field of work;
7) Inadequate remuneration and welfare benefits which make teachers struggle in the present day (1995) economic situation;
8.)Educational expenses per head for students at various grades in government schools are not consistent with the amount of tuition fees and educational materials per head as stipulated by the Ministry of Finance.
The existing rates of tuition fees were proposed by the Ministry of Education in 1977 and have been in operation ever since without any adjustment to the fluctuations of monetary value of baht currency.
Financial support from the Ministry of Education to government schools per student is therefore insufficient for proper educational management;
9) Lack of utilization plans for maximum benefits.
Emphasis on building new educational institutions while enrollment expansion in existing institutions is also a practical possibility.
10) Personnel administration system has often been under the influence of political power, thereby any merit consideration and promotion task is not based on meritocracy;
11) Lack of consistent teachers training and development;
12) Too many overlapping functions amongst various units within the organization, which hinder administrative co-operation.
Too many positions are being created within each department of the Ministry of Education;
13) Active community participation in educational development has not been encouraged.
School administrators tend to manage their institution according to their own policies;
14) Local wisdom has not been explored to enhance teaching/learning processes due to a lack of financial support;
15) Chronic problems concerning drug usage within educational institutions;
16) Lack of clear policy and plans to put the children of those whose income is below 50,000 baht per year into vocational institutions.
These youngsters will be trained to become skilled workers, thereby alleviating the problem of personnel shortages in certain enterprises.
The children from poor families have therefore, an less opportunity to earn higher incomes;
17) There were no genuine attempts to monitor and solve the problems of the schools .
The solutions have been made by administrators from the Ministry of Education, be it at the district, provincial or ministerial level.
In the past ,tending to solve various problems from written documents without insightful practical data, while the inaccurate knowledge of rules and regulations often ironically deters any problem-solving endeavor;
18) Most of the schools have not been well maintained due to a lack of budget. Renovation is thus, urgently needed;
19) Shortages in teaching/learning materials and equipment as well as well as classrooms and laboratories;
20) The curriculum which instills the learners desirable practices in relation to #morality, #ethics, #discipline, #environment protection and #democracy should be established.
Thailand Globalization education reforms in 1995 (Part 1)
The goal of the education reform is to realize the potential of Thai people to develop themselves for a better quality of life and to develop the nation for a peaceful co-existence in the global community.
The main aim of education reform is to enhance the quality of education in Thailand towards educational excellence by the year 2007
The objective of education reform is to create learning individuals, organizations and society.
An educated person or the authentic learning outcome should possess the following abilities and characteristics which are based on Thai cultural heritage and appropriate level of education:
good physical and mental health, critical thinking, intellectual inquisitiveness, professionalism, sense of responsibility, honesty, self-sacrifice, perseverance, team spirit, adherence to democracy, and love for the King, country and religion.
1. Goal : to develop education in a manner which is conducive to economic development of the nation and corresponds to the Eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan (NESDP).
At the same time it is to be adjusted in harmony with globalisation to attain educational excellence by the year 2007
2. Rationale : Education is instrumental in :
1) all eviating poverty as well as narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor;
2) human development in accordance with the Eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan which indicates a shortage in qualified workforce;
3) creating peace for mankind;
4) creating national security.
3. The past seven NESDP’s have made such unprecedented economic progress that Thailand’s rates of economic growth remain amongst the highest in the world.
This economic prosperity has unfortunately widened the gap between the rich and the poor resulting in disparities in quality of life.
Only 30% of the population earns more than 50,000 baht per capita per year while 70% or approximately 40 millions earns less than 50,000 baht.
Thus, these 40 millinon people are forced to have a lower quality of life than that of the unskilled workers who earn the minimum wage totaling over 50,000 per year.
Consequently, the offspring of these 40 million poor Thai citizens have unavoidably been deprived of good quality compulsory education.
The matter is worsened when considering their lack of opportunity to undertake a 12 year- continuing education, due to the financial difficulties of their parents.
4. One national policy must stipulate that the State shall render education to its citizens from the cradle to the grave, with the
concept of providing every youth with a good quality 12 year- continuing education, from pre-kinger-garten, through kindergarten, primary, lower secondary, upper secondary, vocational or equivalent to higher educational level.
Within this framework, compulsory education should therefore, be regarded as fundamental for everyone, in enabling them to earn their living and attain a desirable quality of life in society.
For such reasons, the State must has a policy to expand compulsory education from 6 years to 9 years and eventually 12 years.
5. It is the mandate of the Ministry of Education to provide 12 year compulsory education for the 12 million youngsters studying within the formal system, and another 3 millions in the non-formal system.
6. The Ministry of Education is a large organization which employs more than 600,000 teachers and civil servants who serve within 17 main departments and those with the equivalent status.
This workforce undertake the task of administering education from per-pre - primary to higher educational level.
There are more than 40,000 schools and educational institutions covering all areas throughout Thailand.
7. For the past decade, the Ministry of Education has had to encounter a great number of accumulated problems which, while have not been rectified, pose as obstacle for any effort to provide 6 years of good quality education.
Moreover, they also make the task of expanding compulsory education from 6 years to 9 year and eventually 12 years, with the aim of reducing the gap between the rich and the poor and enabling every one to lead to a good life in the society, extremely difficult to fulfill.
The problems which have accumulated during the past decade can be mainly identified as follows:-
1) Insufficient budget. As over 82% of the budget is spent on personnel salary and administrative costs, only 18% is left for educational development which does not correspond with the 40% the country has earmarked for the development budget as a whole;
2) No administrative unity;
3) Vaque educational policies and plans which are not in line with economic development and the fact that the world has now become a global village;
4) Teacher shortage. The fact that no clear solutions have been made aggravates this is the problem in the rural areas;
5) Inefficient budgeting spending as well as low-quality material and equipment procurement. Loose terms of specifications and a priority on lower prices at the expense of quality, result in the malfunction of materials and equipment for school usage;
6) Inappropriate curriculum and learning/teaching processes which do not correspond to the needs of society in relation to its present stage of national development.
Thus, school graduates are unable to apply their acquired knowledge and skills in the field of work;
7) Inadequate remuneration and welfare benefits which make teachers struggle in the present day (1995) economic situation;
8.)Educational expenses per head for students at various grades in government schools are not consistent with the amount of tuition fees and educational materials per head as stipulated by the Ministry of Finance.
The existing rates of tuition fees were proposed by the Ministry of Education in 1977 and have been in operation ever since without any adjustment to the fluctuations of monetary value of baht currency.
Financial support from the Ministry of Education to government schools per student is therefore insufficient for proper educational management;
9) Lack of utilization plans for maximum benefits.
Emphasis on building new educational institutions while enrollment expansion in existing institutions is also a practical possibility.
10) Personnel administration system has often been under the influence of political power, thereby any merit consideration and promotion task is not based on meritocracy;
11) Lack of consistent teachers training and development;
12) Too many overlapping functions amongst various units within the organization, which hinder administrative co-operation.
Too many positions are being created within each department of the Ministry of Education;
13) Active community participation in educational development has not been encouraged.
School administrators tend to manage their institution according to their own policies;
14) Local wisdom has not been explored to enhance teaching/learning processes due to a lack of financial support;
15) Chronic problems concerning drug usage within educational institutions;
16) Lack of clear policy and plans to put the children of those whose income is below 50,000 baht per year into vocational institutions.
These youngsters will be trained to become skilled workers, thereby alleviating the problem of personnel shortages in certain enterprises.
The children from poor families have therefore, an less opportunity to earn higher incomes;
17) There were no genuine attempts to monitor and solve the problems of the schools .
The solutions have been made by administrators from the Ministry of Education, be it at the district, provincial or ministerial level.
In the past ,tending to solve various problems from written documents without insightful practical data, while the inaccurate knowledge of rules and regulations often ironically deters any problem-solving endeavor;
18) Most of the schools have not been well maintained due to a lack of budget. Renovation is thus, urgently needed;
19) Shortages in teaching/learning materials and equipment as well as well as classrooms and laboratories;
20) The curriculum which instills the learners desirable practices in relation to #morality, #ethics, #discipline, #environment protection and #democracy should be established.