The Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) on Monday eased its policy of reducing class sizes for Prathomsuksa 1 (Grade 1) and Mathayomsuksa 4 (Grade 10) levels in 300 highly competitive schools for the upcoming 2018 academic year.
The decision was made after a meeting between Obec secretary-general Boonrak Yodpetch and about 300 directors from prestigious schools nationwide to sort out problems regarding Obec’s new rule to reduce the number of students per classroom at schools nationwide.
Obec last year announced a policy to scale back the maximum number of students per classroom from 50-60 at present to 40 for secondary schools and primary schools, and to 30 for kindergartens.
The idea is that with fewer students to teach, teachers can ensure they perform better. Under the plan, all 30,000 schools nationwide must comply with the new rule.
The rule has been heavily criticised by many parents and students as they say it will limit their kids’ opportunities to further their studies at the same schools.
Many parents whose children are studying at top-ranked schools have also voiced their concerns, fearing their children might be forced to change schools due to the new class size limits.
The meeting was held at a Bangkok hotel after a group of Rittiyawannalai School parents last week submitted a petition to Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin asking him to relax the rule, saying it is causing students and parents stress.
“Our children who will soon finish Mathayom 3 [Grade 9] and who want to pursue high-school education at the same schools will not be allowed to do so because schools have to reduce their seats following the rule,” said Yotsarin Tarabnak, a representative of the parents’ network.
“We are very stressed out and depressed that the educational future for our kids is so uncertain. We want the ministry and Obec to revise this policy.”
After the meeting, Mr Boonrak said: “Even though it is a good policy which aims to improve the quality of our education, we have to consider the effects on parents and students as well.
“Therefore, we have decided to relax the rule for students who are in transitional periods from kindergarten level to primary level and from junior high-school level to high-school level next academic year, but all schools still have to comply with the rule when accepting Mathayom 1 [Grade 7] students,” he said.
Mr Boonrak said Obec has not decided yet whether it will allow popular schools to have more than 40 students per class or will allow them to increase the number of classrooms to accept more students.
He also warned all 300 well-known school directors to make their admissions transparent. “Schools must not ask for any kind of donations during the admissions period. School directors caught reaping benefits for themselves will face disciplinary action,” he said.