Education Minister Trinuch Thienthong yesterday vowed to speed up accomplishing core missions in education development, initiated by her predecessor Nataphol Teepsuwan, saying she aims to achieve them at various points over the coming three months.
Among these missions is to bridge the gap in quality between larger schools and smaller community ones, she said.
She also claimed that by the end of this period every school will be a space free of bullying and abuse by teachers ready to begin the government's blueprint to see every student become part of a national digital learning platform providing bottom-up big data for the government to work with, she said.
Finally, she said she will implement a plan to improve the image and public awareness of the improved quality of Thailand's vocational education.
Most importantly, the newly appointed minister said, her own policy now is to speed up building trust among educators, students, their parents and other members of the public, through improving work transparency and integration and making learners the centre of education development.
She insisted she wasn't deterred by criticism that she is a cabinet trainee without a background in education and said it would be a challenge to prove her mettle in the role.
She said she was well aware that her duty was to foster a climate where all those with a role to play in national education policy felt empowered to contribute to finding solutions that have prevented Thai students from realising their potential for too long.
"Of course, not all problems can be resolved soon. And that's why we have to prioritise our missions and achieve them step by step over the next three months," she said.
Asked if Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had any special advice for her in her new role as education minister, Ms Trinuch said the PM offered moral support and told her to ensure the continuity of projects introduced by her predecessor.
She said that on her very first day in the job had met a number of the "Bad Students Group" activists for institutional reform and promised to implement their suggestions where feasible.
The group recently sliced up a cake baked to resemble the Ratchawanlop building at the ministry in a symbolic move to signify that the latest appointment to the role was merely another minister who had earned a slice of the rewards that come with being a minister.