Re: "Education sandbox", (Opinion, April 25).
Although I concur with the author about the concept, I would suggest the Ministry of Education get back to the fundamentals.
For eight years I've been actively involved in various educational activities, from secondary to university students, I have noticed discrepancies that should no longer be approved by the government and no longer be accepted by parents. Thainess is quietly killing the Thai education system. Thainess should be replaced by Thailgia.
1) Singapore, Japan and South Korea are not Western countries and are ranked at the top of the list. No excuses such as "TIT" or "Westernised policies".
2) Teachers' curricula and skill sets are low and the selection process is inappropriate. How is it possible in 2018 to get freshly graduated Thai English teachers who don't speak English?
3) Corruption is unacceptable. Teachers must pay fees to be transferred to a different school. Directors declare to the government more students than the number attending the school to get a bigger budget, for what? Directors declare they go by car to a place to get reimbursed but go by plane and pocket the difference -- sometimes 10,000 baht net just by filling out a form.
4) Certain behaviour is unacceptable. Directors and deputy directors drink alcohol and get drunk during working hours. Teachers don't attend class without prior notice and students play with their smartphones. Directors ask teachers to increase the grades even if students don't attend class during the year -- they even ask foreign teachers to organise an exam on a Saturday for those students to give them a grade. How is it possible for a student to take an exam without attending school?
The 2018 Onet results show the average grade for their mother tongue is below 50%. That means one in two Thai students fails to master Thai. And we haven't even talked about math, science or English -- where they all fall below 30-40%.
Thailgia is real and the introduction of new policies (often written by people without working experience in a school) will not cure the pain.
Gilles Bernard
Regime sick
It's pretty sad that this government can apparently feel the pain of multi-billion-baht corporations (digital TV companies) and provide them with relief to help them out of their dilemma, but cannot seem to feel the pain of little people who can barely hold body and soul together because of medical expenses, so therefore are going to raise those medical expenses.
A Reader
Chicks with guns
I do agree with Samanea Saman in his April 25 letter, "Conscription equality". Thailand should abolish the selective military draft process and conscript all males between 18-21 with no exemptions given to celebrity status, VIPs or others. Those studying in related fields of education might be temporarily exempted on a one-to-one interview basis, with the clear understanding that once they graduate, they will be immediately inducted into the military.
If there is indeed to be equality, women too should face military conscription, just like in the countries Samanea Saman noted. Only those, male and female, who volunteer should be given the option to choose the branch of service they'd prefer.
General Golani
Got wood
The Sukhothai governor asked officials to plant more Pha Dam trees in the province and he hopes to patent the active ingredient in its seeds, which he imagines is responsible for alleviating erectile dysfunction (BP, April 25). Unfortunately the information he has received to base his enthusiasm on may be called anecdotal, or in colloquial English, "an old wives' tale".
The most likely active ingredient is d-mannitol, already isolated from the plant and well understood to increase circulating blood volume and blood pressure. While it might help with erectile dysfunction, it might equally cause a heart attack. Hardly a patentable scheme.
Michael Setter
Tears of justice
Re: "NACC set to probe 7 more temples", (BP, April 24).
You quote Pol Gen Watcharapol as saying: "The investigation must proceed with extreme caution because this case involves important figures."
If you're deemed "important", the investigation into you will proceed with "extreme caution". And if you're not, it will proceed without caution. What more proof is needed that Thailand has a two-tier justice system when senior cops make public statements like this?
Tom
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