Stark lesson in reality needed

EDITORIAL

Published: 21 Dec 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

The new education minister, Phongthep Thepkanchana, is right to be unhappy with our country's poor educational performance compared with international standards. He is also right to take a serious look at the country's curriculum. But he is definitely wrong if he believes overhauling the curriculum alone will improve the performance of students.

Like many policy makers, Mr Phongthep believes that for Thailand to benefit from economic globalisation, Thai students must perform better academically. A few years ago, the Programme for International Student Assessment showed that Thai students' performances in maths, reading, and scientific literacy were well below the international average. This year, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement released the result of its latest assessment for the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which rates Thai students' overall skills in mathematics and science as "poor".

This is despite the fact that classroom hours of Thai students are among the highest in the world, according to Unesco. The budget for the Education Ministry, at 20% of the national outlay, is also higher than other sectors.

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oldairman
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Discussion 4 : 21 Dec 2012 at 07.034
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D3 Education will improve on the death of the dinosaurs at the MoEd.
In the 17 months that PTP has been in power the new education minister, Phongthep Thepkanchana is actually the 3rd seat warmer.
D1 for the qualifications of the neww minister try googling him at the leader board. Basically his qualifications are that he served as Minister of Justice, Minister of Energy, Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, and Deputy Leader of the now disbanded Thai Rak Thai party, which was dissolved in 2007, and whose members were banned from politics for five years.
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p.corso
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Discussion 3 : 21 Dec 2012 at 06.513
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Another good advice to add up for the Education Ministry. When will thai authority start to worry seriously about the future of thai children ? What thai education really needs is more than a reform but revolution of the whole educational system.
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upena
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Discussion 2 : 21 Dec 2012 at 06.352
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Thailand also ranked 53 out of 54 countries in English proficiency beating out Libya. Prepared for AEC 2015/2016?
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amazed
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Discussion 1 : 21 Dec 2012 at 03.331
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What is the educational background of the new minister? That would normally be an expected fact to be reported. Frankly, the comments sound far too general for anyone with any practical experience in the field. It sounds like the typical minister that prescribes a coat of paint and the car should run better.
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Stark lesson in reality needed | Bangkok Post: opinion