The failings of Thailand's education system are well known and heavily documented. Students who do not read, write or figure very well are released from school rooms into the market, where they do poorly. Salaries as a whole remain low, compared with many countries with similar economic development. Employers literally line up at conferences and media events to list the failings of job seekers and the system that prepares them.
In the last two decades, the major development on the world scene has been globalisation. This international wrinkle on capitalism has helped the Thai economy as a whole. Thai workers now make computer chips for Korean smartphones, windscreens for Japanese cars. Trade prospers, Thailand's economy grows, workers reap some of the benefits.
The country is rapidly coming to a crunch, however. New competition is rapidly emerging. Of all the un-taught, neglected school subjects, language _ specifically English _ is about to become a national problem. In three years, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will evolve into the Asean Community. This is a huge development for the group. After 44 years of tiny baby steps towards regional cooperation, Asean borders are about to fly open. Entire industries will lose the protectionism that has kept out competition. National, regional and international companies will be competing for the best employees from all of Asean. And they will be looking for people who can communicate in common languages, especially English.
Paron Israsena, who sits on the boards of Chulalongkorn and Chiang Mai universities, was unfortunately correct in his interview with this newspaper on Sunday. "Most Thai students coming out of universities cannot communicate in English," he said. The reasons are clear. From Prathom 1 (first year) through university, government-run language teaching is almost universally rote, unimaginative and presented with no motivation. In most schools, the distinct lack of qualified language teachers is another ingredient in the mix for failure.
A major Thai hotel chain will open a four-year, university-level course this month in culinary arts. Its aim is to help Thais enter the globalised food market. Example dishes include foreign cooking. Many of the instructors are foreigners. Part of the curriculum _ accounting, planning _ uses international standards. Thus, a major admission requirement is a basic knowledge of English. When the school held the admissions test, many of the prospective students were confounded by the simple, Prathom 2, multiple-choice questions. The foreign instructor noted that many of those who struggled to pass the "language proficiency" exam still could not hold a two-minute conversation in English.
Language-wise, Thai workers and many companies are on the verge of being tossed into the deep end of the pool without a life preserver. With a three-year clock ticking down, it is obvious that the Asean Community is going to inflict damage on the Thai workforce in its early days. Workers will be passed over for jobs for lack of communication skills. Many jobs will not even be open to Thais because they will not have the needed language ability simply to search for them.
It is scandalous that the Education Ministry has put the country in such a disadvantageous position. With high-level government insistence, the ministry must begin to overcome this terrible handicap. It is necessary to set up a competent, effective system which improves education overall, with more emphasis on international languages. To advance in the world, it is first necessary to leap in.