EDUCATION

Making students repeat classes for doing poorly in school is not a sound way to improve their academic skills, say officials and teachers.

It hurts their self-esteem.

The findings have alarmed the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) which imposed a repeated class policy four years ago.

Obec secretary-general Kasama Voravan na Ayudhaya said officials were reviewing the policy and it could be scrapped.

The policy had been "seriously enforced" in about 500 primary, secondary and high schools, she said.

About 1,000 students who failed to earn passing grades were ordered to repeat classes.

Many students view this well-intentioned policy as an insult to their intelligence.

Holding them back and making them study with their juniors does not create a desirable atmosphere, according to Obec's survey, based on a sampling of schools.

The study showed no encouraging signs that students' performance had improved under the scheme. All it did was encourage students to either quit school or make them more aggressive, the survey says.

The findings correspond with research carried out by US educator Jere Brophy for Unesco.

Studying data on students who repeated class in all continents, Mr Brophy concluded the system caused more harm than good.

Children might do well in their repeated classes, but in the long run they were still weak in education, according to his research.

Psychologically, Khunying Kasama said, students viewed repeating classes as a punishment or "social sin".

"And they get stressed, lose their self-respect, give up making friends and develop bad behaviour," she said.

Teachers generally agree with Khunying Kasama's concern.

A school director in Chai Nat province said 90% of students forced to repeat classes found it hard to take, and gradually they disappeared from the education system.

Many of the 100 students, mostly those in Mathayom 2 (Grade 8) and Mathayom 5 (Grade 11) in his school who were forced to repeat classes felt so ashamed they either left for another school or stopped studying altogether, he said.

Khunying Kasama suggested schools provide extra classes to weak students so they could keep up with their classmates.

She believed this would benefit both the students and schools in the long run.

But the Chai Nat school director said that was easier said than done.

Teachers at his school were already overloaded, which made it impossible for them to hold any special classes, he said. "To be honest, I don't know what to do."

Khunying Kasama said Obec would continue monitoring the 1,000 students who are repeating classes and would send its findings to the Obec committee reviewing the policy.