Students due to take the General Aptitude Test (GAT) and the Professional and Academic Aptitude Test (PAT) should be patient and wait for the Election Commission (EC) to announce an official poll date, the premier tweeted on Saturday, amid a social media storm triggered by a likely change in the poll date.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha took to Twitter after a campaign by Matthayom Suksa 6 students calling for the original schedule of exams to be reinstated went viral on Thai social media.
The #wantbackexamdates hashtag is a hot item on social media, particularly Twitter. A change.org campaign has also been launched calling for the original date of the exams to be reinstated should, as is now expected, the Feb 24 election be deferred to avoid a clash with His Majesty the King's coronation ceremony.
On Nov 1, the Education Ministry and Council of University Presidents of Thailand (CUPT) decided to change the dates of the two exams from Feb 23-26 to Feb 16-19 so that 450,000 students across the country who are due to take the tests and are also eligible to vote could exercise their right to vote on Feb 24 without having to worry about their exams.
Many students are now arguing that if the original schedule for the GAT and PAT tests is reinstated, they will have more time to prepare themselves.
In response to the complaints, the premier yesterday used his Twitter account @prayutofficial to ask students to calm down.
"I've acknowledged a trend on social media created by students who want the original schedule for the GAT and PAT tests reinstated. I understand you all. However, I want you to be patient and wait for the EC to announce an official poll date, so the CUPT can consider and finalise what to do with the test schedule," he tweeted.
Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said the public must wait for the Election Commission to announce a poll date. However, he told ministry officials to keep the EC updated.
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry said it has approved a request from Les Roches Global Hospitality Education, a hospitality management institution based in Switzerland, to establish two campuses in Thailand.
Les Roches Global Hospitality Education will be the second foreign university to set up branches in Thailand after the government invoked Section 44 of the interim constitution to allow foreigners to open universities in the Eastern Economic Corridor in an effort to address skill shortages.
The first one was Carnegie Mellon University from the United States.
Dr Teerakiat said Les Roches will open two campuses in Bangkok and Chon Buri and will provide hospitality management courses of the same standard as those in Switzerland to Thai students.
The institute plans to admit the first batch of around 300 students for its first academic year in 2020.