Schools, varsities hit hard

The current flood disaster has inflicted huge damage and losses on the country’s education system. It has forced many submerged universities to postpone their reopening days to January next year even though they were supposed to start their first classes early this month.
Thammasat, Rangsit and Bangkok universities in the Rangsit district of Pathum Thani have been under water for weeks although they have been working hard to drain away flood water continuously. Thammasat estimated its losses from the floods as at least Bt5 billion.
The university has deferred the commencement of its next semester to January.
Also, due to the worst floods in decades, many affected schools in Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani will not be able to begin the second semester this month.
The Education Ministry has allowed these schools to postpone their reopening until next month, Minister Woravat Auapinyakul said yesterday.
He said he would allow schools in areas where flood water had not receded before their scheduled reopening on November 21 to begin the semester later. Earlier, he had announced schools in flood-hit areas to reopen on November 21.
Normally, schools across the country start their second term in late October or early November.
After weeks of inundation, Nakhon Sawan, the province that was earlier affected by a huge mass of northern run-off started cleaning up some areas two weeks ago, while Ayutthaya, which was swamped later, will start cleaning up a week later.
Thammasat University president Somkid Lertpaitoon said TU would begin the next term on January 9. Since the final exams for 300 subjects were put off due to the floods, students would have to sit for those tests between January 9-29, in the evening after class. Its summer courses would be offered in mid-May, only 10 days after the last day of the new term’s final exams.
Chulalongkorn University, which has not yet been inundated, announced it would reopen for the second semester on December 23 and the summer term will begin on April 18.
Ramkhamhaeng University, which is at risk of being flooded, will start the new term on December 6.
Many more submerged higher-education academic institutions are likely to open in January as well.
So far, 2,652 academic institutions under the Education Ministry have been affected by the flood crisis. Most are basic education schools, nine are universities and 126 are vocational education institutions, Woravat said.
“If any school finds that most of its students still face difficulties or dangers in travelling to school, for safety reasons the Education Ministry will allow them to postpone their reopening until next month.
“We have two weeks left for November 21. I will consider which areas need further delays and announce those specific areas a week before November 21,” the minister said.
He added that schools reopening in December would have to
extend the end of the second term. “Perhaps, they can teach students until April, the month that is normally a summer vacation. However, they will be allowed days off during Songkran.”
The minister said damage suffered by flood-hit institutions as reported to him was estimated at Bt5 billion. He said the losses could be higher as many of them had not yet reported to him and flood water was likely to reach many areas of Bangkok that had many more schools and universities. He estimated total losses of Bt2 billion for the nine universities.
The ministry plans to request a Bt7-billion to Bt8-billion budget to restore all the affected institutions, said Woravat.
The minister insisted that the first round of General Aptitude Test and Professional Aptitude Test would not be postponed again after the national tests were previously postponed to December 24-27. He said further delays would affect university direct and central admissions.
Initially, the tests were scheduled to be organised on November 19-20 and November 26-27.