New chief sets out to boost council's profile

The newly appointed secretary-general of the Office of the Education Council (OEC), Anek Permvongseni, wants more people to know about the OEC as he intends to lead this agency aggressively to run its own projects rather than just presenting educational proposals and research findings to relevant agencies for implementation.
Anek recently shared his ideas and perspectives in an interview with The Nation’s general news editor Chularat Saengpassa and reporter Wannapa Khaopa after he was officially appointed to the position on November 21.
“I want the OEC to work aggressively, as ‘secretary-general’ [for the Education Ministry] not just ‘secretary’. So, it will have to inspire educational ideas and create its own projects by putting research into practice,” he said, adding that by doing so more people, particularly those outside the education arena, would become aware of the OEC through its projects.
 “I will encourage them to work more actively, using my many years of experience. We have to work as if we are doing business. I will let people from different sectors outside the Education Ministry, who know what society wants, to work in the OEC committee. Seventy per cent of the 50 committee members will be from outside.
“Working at the OEC is challenging. I will have young personnel there do more activities so that more people see the OEC as a dynamic agency. Being a think tank, we need to think continuously. While we are developing people’s brains, we also have to develop those personnel who will be the brains of the agency. If we work enjoyably, everything will run smoothly. We have to have good colleagues. My work philosophy is to let everyone work together. I will not just order them around using my powers as the head. If we use power in the right way, that will drive our mission, but if we use it improperly we won’t succeed in achieving our target.”
As the head of the OEC, he aims to use his coordination and management techniques to deal with personnel and make the agency more active. He has already met and instructed his new subordinates at the OEC to prepare for his aggressive strategy.
“If we can integrate issues involved with education, Thailand will go further. Managing our resources effectively and coordinating with local administrative organisations are essential because our weak point is failed management. When we cannot divide responsibility, don’t do our duties properly and don’t have team work, we won’t be able to succeed.”
Some people may consider his former position as deputy permanent secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office and his lack of background in an education-related career as his weak points. Anek responded that quite to the contrary, they were his strong points.
“Having worked at the Prime Minister’s Office, I have dealt with and coordinated with many government officials and politicians. This is my strong point because the connections will help me when I have to coordinate with them for assistance to push forward the OEC’s projects.
“Moreover, being from outside the education arena, I can look beyond people working in educational agencies. I can think out of the education box. I know what the world wants and how we should improve our Thai children.”
Anek said having worked with politicians for years, he had learned a lot about their different working styles. “I choose to follow their good techniques and behaviour. Though some politicians do not have so good an image, they have something good for me to learn from.”
“I’ve absorbed working ideas of [former premier] Thaksin [Shinawatra] quite a lot.” He said he would promote decentralisation, which was among Thaksin’s policies, in a bid to manage resources in local administrative organisations for the sake of local community development.
He said has learned how to work quickly and carefully and how to make a proper decision from them. They had also given him good ideas.
Although, Anek was transferred to head the educational development planning agency, he said he would still assist Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra when she needs help.
At the OEC, he would start with Thai language preservation, principles and good manners. “Personally, I’m interested in Thai cultural preservation and I find that Thai people are ignoring it at present,” he said.
“I will also promote early childhood development. The OEC will create role-model communities where parents as well as people from different organisations, especially local administrative organisations, share responsibility and fund the development of children in their own communities. The OEC will act as their coordinator and help them search for good learning methods and tools to improve their children’s ability.”
In addition to preserving such traditional aspects, he also intends to equip Thai students with the qualifications needed in the era of globalisation.
He said he would promote technology use among kids and would support the government’s tablet distribution policy.
To prepare for the upcoming Asean Economic Community, Anek planned to look into the academic curricula to see their weak points when compared with other Asean countries. He also wanted higher education institutions in Thailand to exchange collaboration and allow credit transfer with other institutions in the region.
In his recommendation to improve Thai students’ English language communication skills, he said the communication ability of students – including vocational ones – should be tested before studying English so that the teachers would know what they should focus on. He is in favour of holding an English exit exam to encourage students to pay more attention to the subject as well.
Anek said the keys to his success would be practice and follow-up and that he would apply them to change the OEC’s role. He said it is a challenging job for him.
People are now waiting to see how much he will be able to do, and how many of his targets he will reach.