Towards a meaningful education system

THE OFFICE of the Education Council (OEC) is planning to join forces with the private sector to boost Thailand’s educational performance and national competitiveness.
“We will seek co-operation from the Federation of Thai Industries and the Board of Trade of Thailand in adjusting the country’s educational systems in a way that responds to the labour market and also a national development strategy,” OEC secretary general Dr Kamol Rodklai said at a recent forum.
Organised by the OEC, the forum focused on the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2015-16 and how Thailand’s education could help make the country more competitive on the international stage.
WEF has compiled the Global Competitiveness Index based on 12 pillars. Two of these are related to education.
Dr Pasu Decharin, dean of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, said Thailand scored 5.8 on Pillar 4: Health and Primary Education and 4.6 on the Pillar 5: Higher Education and Training in the latest WEF ranking. The highest possible scores are 7.
When Thailand’s scores on the 12 pillars are combined, it was 32nd in the latest ranking – down one spot from a year earlier.
So, the country is still in ‘Stage 2’ for development. This means the country, like Indonesia and China, is efficiency-driven.
While Thailand’s performance was better than Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar – which were rated as “factor-driven” – it lags behind Malaysia.
According to the latest Global Competitiveness Index report, Malaysia has already transitioned to Stage 3. Once the transition is completed, Malaysia will join the remarkable ranks of Japan, South Korea and Singapore, which are innovation-driven.
Pasu suggested that Thailand should improve its information disclosure so that international organisations know better about its performance.
In addition, he believed Thailand should do something to impress business executives whose opinions count in the compilation of the WEF Global Competitiveness Index.
WEF usually surveys the opinions of business executives across all industries between February and May.
As Pasu has joined the recent forum to present findings related to Thailand’s educational competitiveness in the WEF report, he also noted that the Kingdom needs to place a strong emphasis on human-resource development. “With good development and management of human resources, Thailand will enjoy maximum benefits,” he said.
It was necessary to educate people at all levels and improve Thais’ labour skills, he said.
In fact, the government announced last July that upgrading the country’s competitiveness was a national priority.
The government has said that all sides must help bring the country forward. The private sector, for example, could help by improving their organisations while government agencies can provide related support.
Government agencies, for their part, can improve regulations and the delivery of services. The work delivered by the government must respond to the needs of the private sector too, so as to facilitate business.
Towards this goal, six subcommittees have been set up under the supervision of the National Competitiveness Enhancement Commission.
The six are: subcommittees on macroeconomic stability; cluster development; physical infrastructure development; human resource development; improvement of public-sector efficiency and customs-process development; and information management and PR communications.
In addition, Thailand has prepared a mechanism to monitor and assess the efficiency of its long-term development. It has also planned to give this mechanism or organisation the power to support development efforts so that intended goals can be achieved.
There is a bright hope that if Thailand makes real efforts in this way, the country will be increasingly competitive on a sustainable basis.