Trying hard, but falling short

FROM TOP: Tool and die making is precision work. Sitting left to right are certificate students Chatchai Ditthaphong and Kittukul Penbun and diploma students Phatthaya Mangsawat and Niwat Wisetwohan. On the front lines are bellboys Thitiphorn Dairoekngam(left) and Danai Na Nakorn. After working in four departments, Sansanee Laochaichalermphan has settled on food & beverage as her major.

Obviously, that can’t be the whole story. With more than 600,000 students attending the country’s 800 state and private technical schools, there has to be a great deal happening in Thai vocational education. And prominent government leaders say they want this segment of the educational system to play a far more prominent role in the future. They say they want the percentage of students attending vocational school to rise from the current 35 percent to levels equal to or surpassing those attending upper secondary school (Mattayom 4-6).

As is often the case, the learning post has chosen to begin its coverage of this topic from the vantage point of a single school. At the recommendation of the Department of Vocational Education, we paid a day-long visit to Samut Prakan Technical College near the bustling Industrial Estate at Bang Pu. Certainly, this well-established state-sponsored institution of almost 4,000 students would seem to be ideally suited to provide the skilled graduates industry demands.

In many ways it is. One of the first things you notice when you speak to teachers there is how keenly aware they are of the needs of the labour market, a subject almost totally foreign to most of their counterparts in the secondary schools. The curriculum, too, is tailored to the marketplace with 21 majors in the fields of trade and industry, administration, home economics and arts and crafts.

The campus is spacious and well-maintained and the shops reasonably well-equipped. The students look and act nothing like the troublemakers seen on television.

But the school also has its share of problems, many of them clearly system-wide. And while it is undoubtedly performing an invaluable service to the industries in the region, it often fails to supply the long-term skilled labour these industries demand. The reasons, it turns out, often have as much to do with societal values as any failings on the part of the school itself.

Phatthaya Mangsawat and Niwat Wisetwohan are in their second and final year of study for a diploma in vocational education, the highest degree awarded by technical schools. Like the vast majority of their peers, they chose to continue their studies at the school after their first three years of study at the certificate level.

They are both majoring in sheet metal and arc welding. Graduates in this field are in high demand and they know it.

"I chose this major because I knew the demand for welders is very high," says Phattaya. "A good example is the new Suvarnabhumi airport. There, they need a lot of welders."

Niwat also cites the new airport, but there were other reasons behind his decision. "I realised that few people were taking up this field," he says. "My parents were supportive once they understood there was a demand for these skills."

Teachers in the department confirm that industry is crying for welders and that both young men have jobs waiting for them when they complete their diplomas. The only hitch is that neither Phatthaya nor Niwat plan to take them up. They plan instead to transfer to another institution after graduation for two more years of study culminating in a bachelor’s degree. The fact that the new airport is likely to be finished by that time doesn’t seem to concern them.

Surat Chanyeam

They are not alone, says college director Surat Chanyeam. "Most students want to go on for a bachelor’s degree. They don’t think of what the labour market can accept. Getting a degree is a societal value. It is held by both students and their parents."

This often keeps them out of vocational school altogether, Mr Surat adds. "Even though the market has a big need for vocational graduates, they don’t want to study in this field. They want a degree and it doesn’t matter what it is in. For example, students flock to Ramkhamhaeng (an open university) rather than go into a vocational school."

Even for students who do enter a vocational programme, their overriding desire for a degree often has a negative effect on their studies, says welding teacher Surajit Trunopas. "They only see their studies as a stepping stone to a higher qualification, so they don’t pay enough attention to developing their skills. The government really hasn’t been of much help in changing this attitude," he adds.

According to Suvit Gorsakun, assistant director for educational support, many Thai employers reinforce the students’ belief that they are better off with a degree.

"It’s not like in industrialised countries," he says. "There, employers look first at a person’s skills. Here they ask what degree you have. If you have finished the certificate, you get this much. With a diploma you get that much and with a bachelor’s you get this much. They don’t consider that someone who has completed a certificate may be more capable than a university graduate."

Partly as a result, vacancies for skilled technicians at the certificate and diploma levels often go unfilled. "I was at a factory last month and they said finding a diploma graduate was harder than finding gold," Acharn Surajit relates. "But if they would adjust the wages to fit the skills required, our students would take much more interest in their studies at this level."

Manas Khanthachai

Head of the auto mechanics department, Manas Khanthachai, agrees. It is particularly true, he says, for students who complete their certificates – and for good reason. "The students know from their experience as interns in industry that the work can be very hard. And wages for that qualification are only about 6,000 baht per month. But they also see that their foreman earns a lot of money and the work is much easier."

The faculty and administration at the college readily admit there have been problems with some students.

"Many students who come here don’t live with their parents," observes Acharn Suvit. "Many of them have long-standing problems that tend to explode when they reach this age," he says.

According to Acharn Surajit, most vocational students also enter the school with weak academic skills. But this does not absolve the school and the system", he says.

"We have to accept that we are unable to train them to the fullest extent." Budget constraints head the list, he says, and they have gotten worse over time.

"A decade or so ago, we had a budget for materials of about 400,000 baht per term. Now that is down to 70,000. So it works out that we get only about 1,000 per term per student. Consequently, the students don’t always get the practice they need."

The result, he says, is that students often have too much free time, giving problem students the opportunity to find trouble. Compounding the problem are some private technical schools that accept far too many students without adequate facilities to train them.

The current government curriculum can also be an obstacle to a quality education, Acharn Surajit believes. He would like to see a reduction in time-consuming but non-essential activities and a more intensive approach to core technical courses. Instead of students taking a welding class once a week, for example, he favours a sustained one-month course.

Even then, there would be difficulties, says Acharn Thanit Sirisakhorn, another welding teacher. "Our equipment is rather old. We haven’t had anything new for many years. This is a general problem, not just with our department. We can’t keep up with industry because of the budget cuts."

The welding department is not standing still, however. It is coping with its budget and equipment constraints in several innovative ways. Acharn Thanit cites one example:

"One way we are solving the problem is by accepting outside work. Some involve maintenance jobs on campus, but we also take in jobs from nearby companies. This is good because it gives us funding and the companies pay for the materials we use. The students also get experience with a wide variety of work and equipment."

Even if the situation were to improve dramatically across the board, the vocational education systems would still be hard pressed to meet the labour demands of many industries. A particularly dire example is in plastic and metal molding in the tool and die process, an essential skill for workers in Thailand’s huge auto-parts and electronic appliance industry.

"At present there is a deficit of about 8,000 workers in this area, relates tool and die technology teacher Praphas Nimnut. We produce no more than 20 a year. There are about 10 colleges producing students in this field – no more than 200 per year. As far as I know, the companies are bringing in workers from China or elsewhere," he says.

According to director Surat, the technical school system has little hope of meeting such demand unless the government takes a firm stand to promote this segment of the educational system.

"At present, we are not even able to enter secondary schools to give information because they don’t let us," he complains. "I’m not sure if it has to do with government subsidy or not. The government has the same per-student subsidy of 4,640 baht for upper secondary students as it does for vocational students. So perhaps they want their students to stay with them, so they can receive this money. I don’t know."

Some departments at Samut Prakan technical college are thriving despite the hardships. Auto mechanics is one of the top examples. It is handsomely equipped by some of the multinational auto companies in Thailand who also participate actively in training students, many of whom they eventually take on as permanent employees.

Acharn Manas says that students also have an intrinsic interest in the subject. "From the beginning, students want to be able to drive. They want a car of their own. They want to know about the latest auto technology that they see constantly on television and in the print media. This stimulates their interest."

Interestingly, Acharn Manas says more and more young women are getting training in this field. At the moment, they come from other majors and they only take basic courses, but the women are still popular with auto companies.

"Companies say they often prefer women because they are better at customer relations. They are able to understand the basics of auto mechanics as well as the men, but they are able to explain them better to customers. They are also more pleasant to talk to," Acharn Manas relates.

Unlike most other departments, auto mechanic diploma students tend to go to work immediately after graduation. A big reason is the relationship they have developed with the auto companies where they interned. Many of them spend several terms in the workplace, returning to the college only for basic courses like mathematics and English.

This is part of a larger programme known as "Dual Vocational Training"(DVT). Altogether about 1,200 Samut Prakan students, or close to a third of the student body, are enrolled in the programme.

Poolsuk Chinajitphan

"We have DVT for both the certificate and diploma levels," explains Acharn Poolsuk Chinajiphan, assistant director for academic affairs who overseas this programme. "In the main system, students will go out for internships for only one term, but in the DVT system, they go out for half their programme."

"Other institutions may organise it differently, but here, at the certificate level, we have our students stay the first year on campus for basic training. Then in the second and third years, they come to the school on Mondays and Tuesdays. The other three days are spent at their place of work. If the company also works Saturdays, the students do, too."

The advantage to this approach, Acharn Poolsuk says, is that students get a much deeper understaning of what happens in the workplace. She admits one potential drawback to the programme is the experience can be somewhat narrow and students may miss out on some areas in the normal vocational curriculum.

At the diploma level, the DVT programme is much more flexible and more tailored to the special needs of the employers. Auto mechanics, for example, take up residence with dealers all over the country, so it is not practical for them to come into the campus. They do their core courses during the summer term instead.

Wanphen Phongkao

Probably the most enthusiastic DVT supporter is the hotel affairs department. All its students participate in the programme. For department head Wanphen Phongkao, this often means long hours in Bangkok traffic going from one participating hotel to another. She is fortunate to have her own car, she says.

"At the certificate level, students gain experience in four different hotel departments: housekeeping, kitchen, food and beverage and the front office," Acharn Wanphen relates. "They also generally get 1,000 baht per month in transportation expenses and they get their food in the hotel.

"At the diploma level, they choose a major. They spend one term at school and the second and third terms in the work place, coming in for the occasional seminar. Some hotels give the students 180 baht per day, the same as temporary employees. Other hotels offer only food and tips," Acharn Wanphen says.

One of the long-time participants in the programme is the Royal Princess Sri Nakarin, a member of the Dusit group. "There, we have students at every position from the bellboys at the door all the way to the recesses of the kitchen," Acharn Wanphen says with obvious pride. And when they finish, they are often accepted directly as employees. They say the students are well qualified even after the certificate."

More often than not, however, the students continue to the diploma level. One such student is Sansanee Laochaichalermphan who is working as a waitress for the food and beverage department. "It is much better than just sitting a classroom," she says. "I feel much more interested when I am experiencing the actual work."

Sansanee says that she expects to stay in this line of work and when she finishes her diploma, she would like to have an arrangement whereby she can work and study for a degree at the same time.

Chances are good that guests arriving at the Royal Princess will be met by a group of handsome and enthusiastic bellboys who look nothing at all like the stereotypical student thug.

Samut Prakan intern Thitiphorn Dairoekngam hopes he and his friends are helping to dispel that image. "At least people will know that not all technical students are troublemakers," he says. "We, too, have abilities and we can do many things."