Two freshly dug pits in Thailand’s graveyard of good ideas

It didn’t take me long to see what they meant. Plans proliferate in every government agency, arriving centre stage with grand announcements only to die a slow and silent death behind the scenes. 
The problem was highlighted during a recent seminar on higher education at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, when a speaker noted that the Education Ministry was a graveyard of good intentions. He began by saying he was sorry to see so few Thai participants at the seminar. He added that experts at the UN and other international bodies often refer to Thailand as a cemetery for otherwise excellent pilot education projects. 
Many of these projects – especially those targeted at primary-school level – show solid statistical proof of their effectiveness. So why not continue them? The typical explanation from Education Ministry officials is that the projects are “too difficult” or “too complicated”. 
The speaker wondered how the ministry could be more responsive to solid research that leads to innovation and positive results. 
It seems unfortunate then that Education Minister Teerakiat Jaroensettasin has expressed doubt over such innovative education ideas, with concern growing that two recent examples are also heading to an early grave. After much fanfare, the ideas to cut school hours and to hand management of public schools to their successful private counterparts seem to have sunk without trace. The latter was aimed at boosting Thailand’s dismally low scores in the O-Net and PISA tests. 
Dirk Sumter