Can new minister focus on longer term goals?

But after 16 education ministers in the last 13 years, it is clear the country’s education is far from moving forward.

To tell the truth, global educational rankings suggest that Thailand is performing even worse than before. Compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Global Competitiveness Report 2014 – 2015 points out that one of the main challenges for Thailand is its mediocre quality of education at all levels. It ranks Thailand the 87th in the education area now, down nine from its previous ranking.

Rankings about the quality of Thailand’s primary education, secondary education and higher education show Thailand is poorly regarded even among 10 Asean nations. For example, while Laos’ higher education quality is ranked the sixth best in the Asean region, Thailand ends up in the 8th spot.

So what has Thailand done for its educational sector in recent decades? What efforts has it made for its so-called educational reform?

The list of answers of course runs long. But in summary, all the big efforts focus mostly on the policies of the man at the helm of the Education Ministry. In other words, whenever a new education minister is appointed, relevant education officials and relevant authorities will be quick to implement his initiative.

For example, when Jurin Laksanawisit served as the education minister between 2009 and 2010, authorities launched the Tutor Channel in response to his policy.

A few years later, Suchart Thadathamrongvej rose to the helm of the Education Ministry. Encouraged by his keen interest in Mandarin, the ministry agreed to hire more than 1,000 Chinese teachers for Mandarin classes at Thai schools.

While these initiatives may have arisen from a good intention, there is the need for all stakeholders to focus on the overall picture, a holistic approach and the greater good.

Some projects, when not sustained, may deliver few if any benefits. Young children who sat Mandarin classes for a few hours each week for just one or two semesters were prone to quickly forget basic Mandarin communications soon after the special projects for a particular education minister ended.

Most of the time, the new man rising to the helm of the Education Ministry is keen on pushing his own ideas rather than continuing the projects introduced by his predecessors. Officials, meanwhile, are prone to oblige the wishes of their new boss.

Recent activities at the Education Ministry are telling me that the same old pattern is going to repeat itself again.

The Education Ministry has now got Admiral Narong Pipattanasai as its new boss. He has announced 22 policies, including something new like the strong emphasis on 12 core values. These values include upholding the nation, religion and monarchy; having respect for parents, guardians and teachers; seeking direct and indirect knowledge and education; preserving Thai traditions and culture; and understanding and learning about true democratic ideals with His Majesty as head of state.

Now, Office of the Basic Education Commission’s secretary-general Kamol Rodklai said students at all levels would be required to recite the “12 core values of the Thai people”, either as part of their daily flag-raising ceremony or in class.

The Education Ministry, moreover, has already responded rapidly to Prayuth Chan-ocha’s ideas about putting a stronger emphasis on History and Civic Duty.

The ministry though has to date not released any clear action plan on how to achieve the goals of the country’s educational reform. All the goals sound noble. It mentions educational equality, greater educational opportunities, better educational services, and skills needed for the labour market and the world’s trends. The messages are also resonated in the policies of all education ministers in Thailand’s recent history.

What we do lack is the concrete effort to make these goals materialise.

Authorities need to understand that they must focus on the overall picture and key goals, rather than on some colourful activities that may well be remembered among the public but deliver relatively fewer benefits to the country, educational areas and beyond, in the long run.