Expand good schools, panel says

The schools are Triam Udom Suksa Pattanakarn, Thepsirin Romklao, Don Muang Thaharnagardbumroong, Bang Kapi, Rattanakosin Sompotch Bang Khen, Latplakhaophitthayakhom, Tepleela, Nawamintrachutit Bangkok, Mattayom Watbuengthonglang, Rajavinit Bang Khen, Sukum Navapan Uppatum and Surasak Montree.
Parents need to submit their requests by Friday so the students can attend the orientation on Monday, office director Sayan Rungpasak said. If parents fail to file the request in time, the committee would find a school for the kids based on the “neartohome” principle, he said. So far, 45 parents have filed a request, he said, adding that he felt sorry for the parents and students, but the panel was following the regulations set by the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec).
Meanwhile, Education Minister Suchart Tadathamrongvej said that since Obec was reviewing student enrolment for the 2013 academic year, he has told the commission to base the recruitment according to the parents’ wishes.
He said he understood that parents wanted their children to go to good schools, but there was not enough space for everybody. Hence, he said, these “famous and good schools” should expand, and for that the government needs to provide enough resources. Suchart said he had told Obec to find out which school was the most popular so it could be expanded.
Suchart also said that the government should not set a ratio of students meant for the academic and vocational streams because youngsters should be allowed choose what they want to study.
Suan Dusit Rajabhat University’s former rector Sukhum Chaleysub said the schoolexpansion idea could be implemented in Bangkok right away through the codevelopment school project. For instance, the government could place codevelopment schools next to each other and use the same administrative team. It could also focus on improving mid and smallsized schools.
As 5,000 students who got into Bodindecha School made their way to class yesterday, school director Suwat Wiwattananont was presented with bouquets of flowers. He said he felt sorry, but was not disheartened because he had only followed the regulations.
Secondary Education Service Region 3 committee member Yossarin Talapnak yesterday also presented a basket of flowers to Suchart in a move to offer support over the Bodindecha School case. Yossarin said he would meet with the AntiMoney Laundering Office on Saturday to ask that monetary transactions a leading member of a national antigraft network and parents’ network might have participated in be investigated. These networks had called on the National AntiCorruption Commission to launch an investigation into the directors of 20 famous schools.
Yossarin went on to say that the person in question is coowner of a company that finds foreign teachers, and this person had allegedly sent threatening letters to many schools insisting that they hire the company’s foreign teachers or else the schools would be sued for taking tea money. He said that many of these schools were among the 20 in question.
In related news, the Office of Women’s Affairs and Family Development director Somchai Charoenamnuaysuk warned parents that encouraging their children to join a hungry strike went against the Child Protection Act.