Give rural kids a better chance

Bangkok-centric, top-down policies have long demonstrated that the main aim is to preserve the vested-interest status quo. Decentralised autonomy and cooperative decision-making involving local community leaders, parents and student representatives can and will lead to progressive reform, offering academic choices to enhance future options related to education and job enhancement. Don’t penalise, short-change or look down upon remote small schools. Neither resource-sharing nor new technologies will solve problems related to school size.

Community resource learning centres or ICT magnet clusters would provide enrichment opportunities during non-school hours that respond to individual and economic development needs. Knowledgeable persons from within the local area would serve as one-on-one assistance guides to enable hands-on training to learners and their families. The Thai Constitution mandates that equal access to quality education be ensured for 12 years for each and every child. Immediate measures to remedy the misguided artificial reorganisation/consolidation directives should start with reconsideration of the proposal accompanied by provisions for additional alternatives. The cost-effectiveness of overstaffed and under-qualified officials who exceed expectations only when padding budgets should be critically examined, with school management decentralised and schools and teachers being held accountable for student performance.

Charles Frederickson 

Bangkok