The results of the nationwide O-Net tests for students in the 9th grade, or Mathayom 3, for the 2016 academic year which came out on Saturday showed students failed all five subjects on average, according to the National Institute of Educational Testing Service (Niets).
Meanwhile, the results of O-Net tests for students in the 6th grade, or Prathom 6, released on Friday showed students failed four out of the five subjects on average with only the subject of Thai language having an average score of 52.98%.
O-Net stands for Ordinary National Educational Test. It is conducted annually by Niets to measures students' basic knowledge in five key subjects -- mathematics, English, Thai language, social studies and general sciences. All grade 6, 9 and 12 students must take the test to assess their academic proficiency. O-Net scores for grade 12 students are used for university admission.
Education permanent secretary Chaipreuk Sereerak told the Bangkok Post on Saturday that the O-Net results for the 6th and the 9th graders did not fluctuate much over the past few years.
The average scores under 50% did not mean the quality of students had dropped. However, it was undeniable that the gap between schools in Bangkok and the provinces as well as the gap between large and small schools remained a concern.
The curriculum and the test methods will be developed to better reflect students' real competency, he said.
Overall, average scores for over 637,000 Mathayom 3 students tested nationwide this year in all the five subjects were under 50%, with mathematics and English remaining students' least favourite subjects with average scores of 29.31% and 31.8%, respectively, Niets said.
Junior high school students did best in social studies with 49% on average. They earned 46.36% and 34.99% for Thai language and general sciences, respectively, according to the results.
The average scores for Thai language, social studies and English language are higher than last year's, Niets said.
For over 724,000 Prathom 6 students tested nationwide this year, average scores in four out of the five core subjects fell under 50%. Students earned an average of 46.68% in social studies, 41.22% in general science, 40.47% in mathematics and 34.59% in English language.
Only the result for Thai language improved from the previous year, Niets said.
Comparing test score outcomes between schools under the supervision the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) and university demonstration schools, called Satit in Thai, Niets found students in demonstration schools clearly did better than Obec students in every subject for both levels of students, the testing agency said.
Likewise, the test results of both levels of students and in every subject showed students in extra large schools earned the highest average scores, students of the schools in the cities earned higher average scores than those who came from the schools in remote areas.
For 9th graders, the averages scored by Satit students were 59.82% in Thai language, 64.32% in social studies, 57.58% in English, 56.58% in mathematics and 50.11% in general science.
For 6th graders, the averages scored by Satit students were 65.06% in Thai language, 64.02% in social studies, 63.36% in English, 64.02% in mathematics and 53.71% in general science.