Education purge a warning to elected politicians

To the surprise of the citizenry, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has already unleashed the “special power” given him under Article 44 by transferring key Education Ministry officials, including the top-ranking permanent secretary. 

But, even though this across-the-boards power had been heavily criticised when it was first announced, Prayut’s use of it against high-ranking civil servants has received loud cheers, if the reaction on the social media is used as a gauge. Clearly there is widespread belief that problems in the education system have festered too long and a shake-up is essential for reform to begin in earnest. 

The government has indeed cited the need for reform and greater efficiency in education as the spur for its action. There is, however, clearly an underlying agenda, and that is to pave the way for a probe into corruption and other irregularities suspected of handcuffing the ministry’s ability to change. And this is what a majority of the people believe is needed as a first step. It’s generally accepted that many education officials have vision and abundant potential to do good work, but they are stymied by the way the system is currently set up.

The government was at first reluctant to interfere with this long-anchored system, but obviously it has come to accept that true reform cannot take place in the present bureaucratic environment. Earlier talks on education reform centred only on the quality of classroom lessons, while decades of attempts by politicians led to reforms that were lukewarm at best and counterproductive at worst.

 Political meddling in education became somewhat bolder when Thaksin Shinawatra came to power in 2001. Personal computers were distributed to rural schools. Abhisit Vejjajiva’s government proffered free education for 12 years. Yingluck Shinawatra’s administration launched the one-tablet-per-child scheme. Such policies were introduced with flourishes and then discontinued as education became a means of political gain, yet they lacked any real vision for the future.

The inconsistency also left loopholes for irregularities. Thailand’s spending on education is substantial. Prayut’s regime has allocated Bt498.16 billion to education – 19.5 per cent of its total budget, and a 3.2-per-cent increase over the previous share. The Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment calculates that spending on schools alone amounted to Bt1.8 billion over the last five years. Teacher salaries have doubled in that time. 

Thai students spend 1,000 hours a year in the classroom, yet the results are meagre considering the fiscal investment. Every fresh array of statistics measuring student capabilities underlines the same disheartening lack of improvement. 

Thailand is not moving forward in this sphere, and is in fact lagging well behind several of its regional neighbours, despite the sizeable expenditure. The premier’s transferral of top officials takes efforts to improve the situation to another level – he has declared that education reform is part of his plan to reshape the country and restore political stability. 

Prayut might chair the “super board” on education that aims to clean house before any new policy is introduced, but it is still perturbing that we have come to place our hopes in a coup leader to get education back on track. Shame on the democratically elected politicians who failed to do so. Prayut’s action serves as a warning to all: If elected politicians can’t solve problems, others are apt to step in.