Education for all, a priority for Thailand’s government and Church
Beginning in May Thailand’s Education Ministry is expected to implement a reform package titled ‘15 Years of Free Education’. Under the new plan schooling would be divided into three time period: three years of pre-school, six of primary school and six of high school.
For Education Minister Julin Laksanavisit the focus will be on values like “quality, morality and Thai traditions”
Some 12 million families should benefit from the changes. A special plan will be set up for 925 schools in the country’s three southernmost provinces, including Islamic schools led by Muslim religious leaders who will have to adapt their school curriculum to the “same standards of other government schools in the region”.
Card Michael Michai Kitbunchu, chairman of the Catholic Commission for Education of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Thailand, said that “parents and students who are poor” deserve special consideration “by deducting or cutting school fees” they would normally have to pay.
According to Thai Church statistics, there are 317 Catholic schools in the country, with 234,585 male students (12,809 Catholics) and 250,153 female students (13,309 are Catholics). These schools employ 5,698 male teachers (5,117 Catholics) and 19,754 female teachers (3,786 Catholics).
Such figures show that Catholic schools are multi-confessional who perform a dual function, namely providing a good education and encouraging intercultural dialogue.
One such school is St Joseph Upatham School in Nong Re, Nakhon Nayok province. Some 400 students attend the facility which employs 23 teachers. The families of many of its students are poor and fees are half the national average.
Another example of excellence is St Joseph School, the oldest in the country founded more than a hundred years ago, in Ayutthaya province.
In 2007 it received an important recognition from Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej for two reasons: helping students develop their potential and promoting interfaith dialogue and student coexistence in peace and harmony.
Some of its teachers and administrators are actually former students.
“I am proud to see how far the school has come. It started out with only 200-300 students and now it has 2,500 students, from kindergarten to secondary level,” said Nareerat Yingyuod, deputy administrator at St Joseph’s School.
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