Despite a promise for an education reform as the country fares among the bottom in the region for its academic success, a youth civil society group said that Thai education will only get worse under the new draft charter.
Education for Liberation of Siam (ELS), a civil society group comprises students and youth activists campaigning for education reforms, on 9 March 2016, posted a status on its facebook page to criticise the new draft constitution.
ELS pointed out that unlike the 1997 and 2007 Constitutions in which the youths are entitled to receive 12 years of free schooling, the new draft constitution, under the first paragraph of Article 50, reduces it to only nine years of compulsory education.
According to the junta-appointed Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC) under Meechai Ruchuphan, CDC president, the budget deducted from the last three years of higher secondary school will be allocated to kindergarten level of education instead.
Criticising the policy, ELS on its facebook page argued that although kindergarten and primary level of education is important, family plays greater role in child development during earlier years of schooling. Therefore, the state should prioritize on financing higher education.
“In general, higher secondary level of education and vocational education are expensive to the point that certain students are forced to withdraw from schools. Therefore, if such welfare is cancelled under the draft constitution, inequality of education will only rise,” ELS posted on its facebook page.
In addition, the page added that part of the third paragraph under Article 50 stipulates that the state is entitled to ‘direct, encourage, and support’ local or regional education in both public and private educational institutions.
As local education is characterised with unique regional identities of the country, ELS said that the new draft constitution will allow the state to monopolise education by imposing a centralised curriculum in which educational institutions will be forced to conform.
“The draft constitution also brainwashes us. The fourth paragraph of Article 50 stipulates that universally the purpose of education is to create good and disciplined citizens who are proud of the nation,” ELS wrote. Therefore, the youth education reformers asked “if individuals’ concepts [of good and disciplined citizens] differ from that of the CDC and the junta, does it mean that they are the failure of Thai education?”
Since 2014, ELS has been active in voicing opposition against the Thai junta’s controversial nationalistic 12 Thai Values, which was imposed on the public school curriculum after the coup d’état.
The so-called 12 traditional Thai values invented by Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader, after the coup d’état in May are:
Love for the nation, religions and monarchy
Honesty, patience and good intentions for the public
Gratitude to parents, guardians and teachers
Perseverance in learning
Conservation of Thai culture
Morality and sharing with others
Correct understanding of democracy with the monarch as head of the state
Discipline and respect for the law and elders
Awareness in thinking and doing things, and following the guidance of His Majesty the King
Living by the sufficiency economy philosophy guided by His Majesty the King
Physical and mental strength against greed
Concern about the public and national good more than self-interest.