Discussing Policy and Plans to Further Develop Quality of Thai Education in CONNEXT ED Phase 3
Aiming to create digital school report, CONNEXT ED Crowdfunding online donation system, and CONNEXT ED Foundation while expanding partnership with the private sector
The government sector, led by Minister of Education Nataphol Teepsuwan, in his capacity as Chief of the Government Sector Working Party, the civil society, the private sector led by Suphachai Chearavanont, CEO of Charoen Pokphand Group / Chairman of the Board of True Corporation Plc, in his capacity as Chief of the Private Sector Working Party, executives of 33 founding organisations, and new members of CONNEXT ED have teamed up to continuously foster a participatory educational culture by arranging a meeting on policy and plans to further develop Thai education under CONNEXT ED 2019.
The meeting was held at the Kamhaeng Phalangkul Meeting Room, the Office of the Education Council, Sukhothai Road. The objective of the event was to build on the success of the project’s Phase 2 and to discuss guidelines for the implementation of Phase 3 on topics such as digital school report, CONNEXT ED Crowdfunding, CONNEXT ED Foundation, and expansion of collaboration with the private sector. The meeting agreed to adhere to the project’s five key strategies, including development of Thai education in the 21st century, nurturing of “good and smart kids” in a sustainable manner, inequality reduction, development of the potential of human resources and improvement of the country’s competitiveness.
The meeting started by summarizing the results of CONNEXT ED, Phase 2 (2018-2019) in developing education for 4,781 Public-Private Partnership or Pracharath schools nationwide under the supervision of the Office of the Basic Education Commission. The number of students participating in the project increased to 1,047,660 and their academic performance was higher with a 9.85% increase in the O-NET scores compared with the previous year. Their average score was also higher than the national average. The project expanded to collaborate with 21 new partners from its existing collaboration with 12 leading business organisations which are the founders of the project, raising the total number of CONNEXT ED partners to 33. The number of School Partners, who are volunteers from private organisations, increased to 900 people and funding from private organisations for Pracharath schools in 77 provinces totalled more than 3,153 million baht.
Minister of Education Nataphol Teepsuwan, in his capacity as Chief of the Public Sector Working Party said: “Today is a good opportunity for the government sector and experts from civil society and private sectors to brainstorm on policy and plans to develop the quality of the Thai education under the CONNEXT ED project 2019. Throughout the past three years, we have been working together and playing a pivotal role in moving Thai education forward. This reflects the determination of all sides to reform Thai education with quick results. It is a pleasure for me to share and listen to opinions of all parties here. The Ministry of Education plans to increase nationwide Internet access (95% of all schools) by May 2020 with the use of technology to connect the Ministry with schools, develop teachers and enhance the efficiency of school management. The Ministry is always ready to support CONNEXT ED and would like to thank all sectors for their determination. What we have been working on together has benefitted the country in an unprecedented context. Let us use our collaboration as a force to continue creating good things for society.”
Suphachai Chearavanont, CEO of Charoen Pokphand Group / Chairman of the Board of True Corporation Plc, said: “Phase 3 of CONNEXT ED still adheres to the five key strategies which include 1. Transparency – School data transparency for future improvements. All sectors can analyse and assess school’s information in order to effectively plan development for each school with a new generation of leaders, or school partners, liaising between schools and participating teachers 2. Market Mechanisms – Market mechanisms and the culture of participation, which are the results of the transparent indicators, are very crucial. All sectors take part in developing schools in various dimensions, paving the way for the creation of an online donation system or crowdfunding which is a very good tool to encourage public participation. 3. High Quality Principals & Teachers – Developing quality school administrators and educators. Awareness and inspiration should be created to increase the quality of school management and teachers professionally 4. Child Centric & Curriculum-focused on developing both confident and moral students. Children are treated as the centre of learning, so that they can discover a learning process by themselves, know how to ask questions and find answers, and then take actions together. This is how action-based learning is developed. Digital school reports will be created in an effort to expand the digital platform to children, helping schools see children’s potential transparently and 5. Digital Infrastructures – Providing schools access to digital infrastructure. This gives opportunities to children in remote communities and helps them learn through a digital system. Digital infrastructure promotes equality by helping the children access sources of knowledge from all over the world.”
The 3rd phase of CONNEXT ED (2019-2020) has an action plan that still aligns with the five key strategies as follows:
• Digital School Report: Databases and school management systems will be developed to process information and academic performance of each student in the form of digital school report. Digital school report helps schools learn about weakness, strength and aptitude of each student, leading to effective development of skills and potential.
• CONNEXT ED Crowdfunding: Creating an online donation system to mobilize educational funds for schools that need budget support for various purposes. The system compiles projects under the Pracharath school development plan for the general public to support. The projects have been screened by a central working team.
• CONNEXT ED Foundation: A working team responsible for basic education and leadership development has been transformed into CONNEXT ED Foundation to continue developing the country’s basic education quality.
• Potential Partner: Continuously expanding partnerships to various business organisations until the project reaches 2,124 Pracharath schools that need support from the private sector. As of today, 2,657 from 4,781 schools have received support from enterprises.
CONNEXT ED was established by 12 leading private organisations in Thailand, including Bangkok Bank Plc, Berli Jucker Plc, Central Group, CP All Plc, Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc, Mitrphol Group: Thailand’s sugar business; energy business; and new business groups, PTT Group, Siam Commercial Bank Plc, SCG, Thai Beverage Plc, Thai Union Group Plc, and True Corporation Plc.
Last year, 21 business organisations entered in the project, bringing the total number of CONNEXT ED partners to 33. The 21 new partners include Bangchak Corporation Plc, Banpu Plc, Panyapiwat Institute of Management, Enconcept E-Academy, Thai Toshiba Electric Industries, Bang Kadi Industrial Park, BEC World Plc, Slingshot Group Co., Ltd., EduPark Co., Ltd., AP Honda Co., Ltd., Positive Solution Co., Ltd., S.K. Polymer Co., Ltd., Bertram (1958) Co., Ltd., Globish Academia (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Mac Education Co., Ltd., Delta Electronics (Thailand) Plc, KV Electronics Co., Ltd., L&E Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Learn Corporation Co., Ltd., Ek-Chai Distribution System Co., Ltd. (Tesco Lotus), and Western Digital (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
Organisations interested to join CONNEXT ED to drive and develop Thai education, please contact CONNEXT ED team at 0-2069-2101 ext. 1003-1004 or Partners.connexted@truecorp.co.th.