School system lets our young talent die on the vine

During his visit to The Nation’s editorial department last week, Education Minister Woravat Auapinyakul offered some on-the-spot analysis of the challenges facing him and Thailand’s education system as a whole. The biggest problem, he said, is that Thai children do not have a chance to show, develop and nurture their talents until they have almost entered adulthood. There may be some exceptions, but, by and large, society lacks the personnel, equipment and mechanism to spot talented kids and help them bloom.
Woravat was talking about something that has existed so long it has ceased to be recognised as a problem. As far as talent development goes, it’s as if Thailand has been on auto-pilot. Once in a while, there will be Thai kids who win international maths or physics “Olympics” and make the Kingdom proud, but that’s it. The maths and physics geniuses are discovered in spite of our education system, not because of it.
Many factors contribute to this situation. Teachers, naturally, bear the brunt of the blame. The logic is simple: If teachers are no good at, say, physics, how can they become aware of a physics talent who may be sitting at the back of the classroom, looking bored? Most talent needs discovering and nurturing. Only the greatest shine against all odds. The rest are in danger of wilting away after some time.
Teacher quality is always a priority question. But then again, for a ministry employing over 500,000 personnel, just why it lacks a good talent-spotting and development system is a puzzle. Reform is needed for the long-term future. Immediate measures are also important in order to prevent Thai talent buried in classrooms across the country from withering before it can even bloom.
Woravat envisions enlisting help from real experts, who are currently blocked by some bureaucratic rules from teaching young students. It’s an irony that, in a country where teacher quality is always a focus of complaints, not everyone can go into the classroom and lend the teachers a helping hand. This, he says, must change. Students need help from proficient practitioners who can equip them with working skills and pinpoint their talent. The Government Teacher and Educational Personnel Act must first ease up on restrictions preventing the children access to the knowledge of professionals.
That seems to be a good idea. But teachers’ quality and other problems plaguing Thailand’s education have their roots in politics. In times of political peace, the ministry is often considered a corruption zone. In times of political turmoil, it – like other government agencies – suffers a severe lack of continuity. Since Thaksin Shinawatra became prime minister in 2001, about 10 politicians have taken turns at the helm of the Ministry of Education. Policies have been changed, disrupted and cancelled. Efficiency is the last thing that we can expect from this vast, all-important agency.
Despite his ambition and vision, Woravat himself does not look like a minister whose place in the Cabinet is rock-solid, should a reshuffle occur. The Pheu Thai Party’s real patriarch, Thaksin, is known as a chop-and-change political leader. Whether the Education Ministry will once again pay the price for a Cabinet shake-up remains to be seen, but nobody dares rule out the possibility.
Woravat made it clear that the hyped-up election promise to give free computer tablets to underprivileged children would be implemented selectively, depending on the readiness of children, teachers and their schools. It looks like the tablet scheme will join the list of Pheu Thai policies to be scaled down with various new conditions thrown in. But if the tablet promise is a political gimmick, the “talent” issue that Woravat so strongly emphasised must not be. Tablets may help to unearth new talents, granted, but what will be the point of that if our education mechanisms aren’t ready for them?