Govt urged to spend more on education

Tossaporn Laitim, council president and a student at Suphan Buri’s Thammachote Suksalai School, led 94 council members in meeting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at the Naree Samosorn Building at 10.30am and presented her with a CD and report containing the council’s recommendations.
Tossaporn later told reporters the council wanted the government to address rural children’s lack of access to higher education opportunities due to a lack of scholarships, tutoring, learning resources, teaching materials and school infrastructure.
The council president said the government should increase the size of the Student Loan Fund and extend it to cover more poor children; spend more on constructing school buildings in rural areas and updating teaching materials; and offer tutoring to rural schoolchildren to bring their performance up to the level of their urban peers. The government should also improve learning-impaired children’s chances of attending university, he said.
The council also wants the government to strictly enforce environmental laws and allow the public and private sectors to work with the Thai Student Council to raise youths’ awareness of the importance of conservation and wildlife protection, he said. As Thailand is moving toward the launch of the Asean Economic Community in 2015, English-language teaching should be promoted more in rural schools with an emphasis on listening, speaking, reading and grammar skills. He said English-learning opportunities should be provided to homeless, stateless and learning-impaired children. The government should promote more cultural-exchange projects among Asean countries, Tossaporn added.
To bring local youths’ participation and application of knowledge up to international standards, camp activities should be organised – possibly in the form of a day or an overnight camp once a month – he added.
In related news, Yingluck yesterday accepted a letter from 20 members of a student network opposed to a plan to grant autonomy to universities. The group urged Yingluck to suspend the plan pending a study of its pros and cons; a public hearing for students, teachers and university personnel; and an assurance that the plan’s implementation will not burden students with high tuition fees. They called for the immediate cancellation of plans to grant autonomy to Kasetsart, Khon Kaen, Suan Dusit Rajabhat and Silpakorn universities. They also urged the government to monitor spending at universities that were already autonomous, those in the process of being granted autonomy and at state-run institutions. They urged the government to provide all Thai youth with a free education through the bachelor’s degree level.