Grade 6 students wooed to promote vocational studies

The Office of the Vocational Education Commission (Ovec) has launched its new three-year pre-vocational studies programme (Pre-Vec) in 10 vocational colleges nationwide to attract Grade 6 students.

According to Ovec, students who enrol will receive vocational training while they also study other subjects designed to meet the developmental needs of early adolescents for three years. This is instead of learning normal subjects designed for general education. They will also get a pre-vocational certificate upon graduation from school.

Ovec secretary-general Suthep Chittayawong said the goal is to set more students on a vocational track from an early age while boosting the overall number of vocational students.

“Normally, Thai students have to wait until they finish middle school or Grade 9 (Matthayom 3) before they choose between vocational or general education,” he said. “But with this project they will be able to pursue vocational studies as soon as they graduate from primary school.”

Mr Suthep said the project is now being piloted in 10 colleges with potential improvements to be considered at the end of this academic year.

“We are capping the number of students who can enrol in this project at 300, even though thousands have shown interest, because we must research the pros and cons first,” he said.

If there is no negative feedback Ovec will expand the programme to all public voc”ional colleges nationwide.

Mr Suthep said Ovec is in talks with businesses to ensure the average starting salary for new graduates with pre-vocational certificates will be higher than that for graduates who hold regular middle school certificates. “We hope that if the starting salary for our new graduates is higher than normal students, it would make our programme more attractive to parents and students,” he said.