Bureau of Development Evaluation, Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board Office (NESDB), has monitored the situation and data collection for developing the well-being indicators in education. These indicators have been used as a tool for evaluating potential development of Thai population, The interesting substances have been highlighted.
Education is an important tool in developing quality of Thai people to meet the objectives of the development plan. It has played a major role in providing opportunities, and developing intelligence and learning process for people to have the "ability for thinking and working", be self-reliant, and effectively use their own experiences, potentials, skills and knowledge for adapting themselves to the rapid changes. These would lead to the well-being of individuals and the society as a whole.
The evaluation of educational development has measured the learning process and intelligence of population for serving society more effectively, the human development in skills and knowledge to increase the competitiveness, the creation of equality and justice, and the improvement of quality of education, The evaluation could be summarized as follows;
1. Educational services have a satisfied progress. From the first National Economic and Social Development Plan (1961-1966) to the third year of the Eighth Plan (1997-2001), the economic and social development has
had a great progress. Meanwhile, the population increased form 27.3 millions in 1961 to 61.8 millions in 1999. Therefore, educational development for higher physical and intelligence potentials has been an important mission. The progresses of the educational management are;
1.1 Schooling-age population has better educational opportunity. In the period of the Eighth Plan, the Government could provide education for schooling age population in a higher number, from 16.9 million in 1994 to 18.46 million in 1999, or 29.9 per cent of the total population. The increased students are in pre-primary, upper-secondary, and tertiary levels. Primary and lower-secondary levels tend to decrease in average of 1.6 per cent per year because young population has decreased.
1.2 Population aged 15 and over are literate. In 1998, literacy rate of Thais aged 15 years old and over are 95.1 per cent, higher than that of 90.6 per cent in 1992. Population aged between 15-39 years old, in particular, are all literate. It indicates that the government has continuously emphasized on basic education regions has prevailed. In 1998, population in Bangkok and vicinity has literacy rate of 99.2 per cent, the highest in the country while the central region is 97.3 per cent, the northern region is 94.5 per cent, the northeastern region is 93.7 per cent, and the southern region is 92.8 per cent. Urban population has higher literacy rate of 99.4 per cent than its rural counterparts of 94.4 per cent.
2. Educational development for being able to think and work is lower than the target. The main objectives of basic education are developing ability for thinking, solving problems in daily life, and earning a living. both quantitative and qualitative targets.
2.1 The quantitative development is lower than the target 29.6 percent. Those finished level 6 should normally have ability to do basic calculation and solve basic problems. Although the past development could expand years of schooling to reach 7.8 years in 2000 and its growth rate during 1992-2000 is 2.9 per cent per year, they are still lower than those of Asian countries such as Japan, Korea and Singapore, which is in the range of 9-11 years. Moreover, the retention rates of students level 1-9 have increased from 60.9 per cent of the total population in 1996 to 70.4 per cent in 1999, lower than the target in the Eighth plan of which all schooling-age students must receive 9 year of basic education.
2.2 Qualitative development needs to be improved. In the past, the quality of education is measured by pupil-teacher ratio. Office of the Teacher Service Commission have set the standard of this ration in each educational level, 25:1 for primary level, 17:1 for lower-secondary level, and 18:1 for upper-secondary level. The increase in number and distribution of teachers during 1992-1999 has generated the pupil teacher ratio at primary level equivalent to 20:1 Which was higher than the standard. At other levels, the ratios are 28 per cent higher than the standard. However, the quality evaluation was done during 1997-1998 by giving tests in 4 subjects; Thai language , English language, mathematics and science. Students at all levels scored lower than 60 per cent, particularly in mathematics and science. Their performance in the subjects which need thinking, calculation. These results have reflected the problem of educational management so that many measures should be implemented to develop intelligence of Thai youth for being able to think and work as the objective of educational development.
3. Financial situation of the household has affected the educational transition at all levels. Enrolment at the primary level has showed the progress and equal opportunity in education for all people. However, the chance of having further education at the higher levels is less due to the financial problem of the household.
3.1 Enrolment rates The continuous educational service distribution has in creased the enrolment rates of schooling-age population (aged 3-21 years)at all levels of education, from 57.5 per cent in 1994 to 73.1 per cent in 1999. Pre-primary school children who previously stayed with their parents entered the educational system in higher number, from 64.6 per cent to 90.8 per cent at the same period. Children who attended the compulsory education (level 1-6) increased from 94 per cent to 102.6 per cent. At upper-secondary and tertiary levels, the enrolment rates were only 58.8 per cent and 21.5 per cent, respectively.
Although the enrolment rates from pre-primary level to lower-secondary level have increased continuously, inappropriate-age students at each educational levels are high for both older and younger than their standard age. From the report of the National Statistical Office in 1997, these students at lower-secondary level are the highest of 36.5 per cent. They are lower of pre-primary level of 25.4 per cent, and primary level of 21.1 per cent. It indicates the ineffectiveness of educational management system which has hindered children to enter the educational system at the appropriate age. Therefore. problems in teaching and learning have occurred, such as, students at different ages studying together in the same class and too many students in one classroom. Concerning agencies should seriously consider the causes and find the solutions because these problems have affected the quality of education.
3.2 Transitional rates are low and a large number of students are concentrated in main cities. The evaluation of educational transition at secondary level indicates that a large number of students from many provinces tend to further their studying in Bangkok.
(1) Lower-secondary level The number of level 6 students who have continued their study at lower-secondary level decreased from 90.2 per cent in 1996 to 89.7 per cent in 1999. At regional level, Transition rates in Bangkok and vicinity was 96.1 per cent, Which was the highest while it was the lowest in the South of 74.2 per cent.
(2) Upper-secondary level Transition rates of level 9 students increased slightly. In 1999, the overall transition rate was 90.2 per cent, comparing to 89.0 per cent in 1996. The transition rate in Bangkok and vicinity was the highest of 153.1 per cent while it was lowest in the northeast of 71.1 per cent. These data indicate disparity of educational services and educational opportunity between children in Bangkok and vicinity, and other regions.
3.3 Bad financial situation of the families has hindered the educational transition. The survey of demand for educational transition in Children and Juvenile Census (1999) by National Statistical Office showed the main reasons for not having further education were being unaffordable, having to work and being uninterested in studying. As considering the educational expense, it was consisted of spending on food 48-59 per cent, Transportation 13-18 per cent and the rest was for tuition fee. Therefore, Poor families cannot afford the educational expense even though the government has provided education without tuition fee.
4. Budget has been allocated for the tertiary level in high proportion. Economic crisis in 1997, the first year of the Eighth Plan, has pressured the government to use tight fiscal policy and lower the budget down on average 5.4 per cent annually by decreasing from 925 billion Baht in 1997 to 825 billion Baht in 1999.
However, the government has emphasized on educational development by increasing educational budget from 200 billion Baht in 1997 to 2.07 billion Baht in 1999 or 1.1 per cent annually. Therefore, the ratio of educational budget to the total budget increased form 21.9 per cent in 1997 to 25.1per cent in 1999. Considering details of the budget in each educational level, the tertiary level was allocated the largest amount of budget which was 22,153 Bath per capita per year, pre-primary and primary levels were allocated 10,155 Baht per capita per year and secondary level had the least, which was 8,221 Baht per capita per year.
The Budget allocation is inappropriate as considering the returns from work. Workers finished tertiary level have earned income 3 times higher than those finished secondary level and 5 times higher than those finished primary level. Therefore, the government has to reconsider the budget allocation by increasing the budget per capita for primary and secondary levels. For tertiary level, the government should formulate measures to support students in sharing educational cost so that the budget allocation will be focused on educational services that are equitable and nationwide. In addition, the poor and disadvantaged group would be assisted to have further education.
5. In conclusion, Thai children have had higher chance to further their education in higher levels than the primary education, particularly in lower-secondary level. However, opportunity and disparity between urban and rural areas are still existed Environmental and economical backgrounds of family have influenced on educational opportunity of children and Juvenile even in the basic education. The most important obstacle is financial problem.
As the government has provided the compulsory education of 9 years and the basic education of not less than 12 years according to the National Education Act 1999, the policy of providing education without tuition fee is not adequate for 3-7 years old students to have equal educational opportunity because tuition fee is only one component of the total educational expense. The government should have provided supplementary
measures in various forms, such as free lunch, loans for education, etc. for poor families and children to have equal opportunities in both lower and upper secondary levels.
Moreover, the improvement of educational management for children to enter educational system in the appropriate age and budget allocation should be considered seriously. Every concerning agencies have to find solutions as these are obstacles for the human resource development in increasing ability for thinking and working, and gaining better skills and knowledge. It is also relevant to the new era of development.
For more details of human quality development in education, NESDB will present it at the NESDB Year End Meeting in February 2001.
Development News Bulletin, National Economic and Social Development Board, Volume 18, No. 8 : August 2001 End.
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