Stamp out corruption at its source - in schools

 We are also told that corruption must be defeated to allow for greater equality in society and permit Thailand to become more competitive. To expedite these goals I would like to make the following suggestion. Eradicate corruption where it is doing the greatest harm – in the schools!

Gaining admission to public schools considered prestigious is linked to parents’ willingness and ability to pay for their child’s entrance, either by paying for the answers to the entrance exams or paying for poor results to be waived.

Once the child has been accepted, the corruption continues unabated. Many mid- and end-of-term exams don’t test anything taught in class. Instead, in exchange for excessive fees, teachers offer “cramming classes” that cover what’s in these tests. Often this means getting the answers in so they can be memorised. If you don’t attend, you fail. Administrators condone this arrangement since it gives members of staff extra money and the school a “high pass rate” that earns a “prestigious” rating.

Parents who refuse to participate in this type of corruption have to answer to their children, who feel both peer pressure to remain in the class with their friends and pressure from the staff to “improve”. 

This accepted exploitation teaches children from an early age that corruption is not only practised by those who should be educating them but also is the only way to progress and succeed. 

Consider also how poorly educated the children progressing through this existing system have become. Then think about how difficult it is for Thailand’s young people to learn to think for themselves and how impossible it will be for greater equality in society, permitting Thailand to become more competitive internationally.

The first step is the development of young minds. Otherwise the cycle will continue from one generation to the next, with no end in sight. 

Ajarn Dee