Groomin g players in the STEM fields
Rachain Kosanlavit’s rigorous academy in Rayong province moulds tomorrow’s innovators.
Thailand’s
education system needs improvement in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields that have been neglected in the country’s policymaking for decades.
As a result of lacking a long-term educational roadmap, Thailand faces a shortage of human resources in STEM fields.
Kamnoetvidya Science Academy (KVIS) was founded in May 2014 to provide a high school education (grades 10-12) with a focus on science and technology. The academy is located in Wang Chan district, Rayong province.
Rachain Kosanlavit is the second principal in the academy’s history, replacing Thongchai Chewpreecha, who left the position in April.
Mr Rachain, 52, says being the leader of the school is the most challenging duty in his life, as it won’t be easy to make a pathway to create human resources for the STEM fields.
“It is not only the production of STEM workers, but also I have to break down all the walls and barriers in the general mindset of Thais for several decades and make them think outside the box,” he says.
Mr Rachain says Thai students and their parents tend to believe that study in the medical and engineering fields is the key to a productive future career.
Specifically, the mindset holds that these careers are a way of getting rich faster than in other careers.
“While STEM research is very new in Thai education, the main idea of innovations for the business sector has just started as well,” Mr Rachain says.
This was the main reason to set up KVIS as one of Thailand’s most prominent science academies at the high school level, complementing the Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (Vistec), a frontier research university at the post-graduate level.
The establishment of these schools coincides with Thailand’s planned transformation from a labour-intensive industrial power to a technology-based economy over the next few decades.
Labour-intensive industries have found a home in the country for 40 years.
“As the principal, I have to inspire students to be STEM researchers and workers, and it’s not only going to be medical doctors, but also those working in any fields which have job demand,” Mr Rachain says. “If you want to be medical students, you can go to general schools and universities, but STEM human resources are in such a shortage in the country.”
The country’s industrial sector needs workers equipped for the innovation-based economy.
“Each STEM student can be encouraged to be more well-known in public after creating innovative things that are useful to society, because life success is not just being wealthy or rich,” Mr Rachain says. “He or she should do a job that really inspires.”
He says the people who will be famous and well-known 100 or 200 years from now will be the scientists whose discoveries benefited mankind.
Furthermore, the mindset of Thai students is often to choose a field of study at the university level that follows crazes or their friends, not their own inspirations.
“It’s not surprising at all because we have seen several freshman students who decided to quit the fields of study in their sophomore year and take the exam once again for other fields, as they made the wrong decision for their studies,” Mr Rachain says. “So every stakeholder in the country’s education system, including me, must do the job to present the public this sadbut-true story.”
KVIS opened in the first semester of 2015. The first 43 students graduate in the last academic year.
The school accepts 72 students annually, and all have been offered scholarships to leading universities in Japan, South Korea and Thailand.
Qualified KVIS students can receive a civil service commission for further study overseas.
“Some graduates will be selected to study at medical schools, but we hope they would apply to become a medical researcher instead of a general doctor,” Mr Rachain says. “In the medical field, it still lacks researchers in the areas of disease and pharmacy, but being a general doctor is not different from other famous schools that produce new students for the medical schools every year. Otherwise, the establishment of KVIS will waste budget if its direction is similar to that of other high schools.”
Mr Rachain says 3-4% of newborn children will have talent in the STEM fields, equal to 20,000 of the 700,000 babies born each year in Thailand. An additional 3-4% will have a knack for sport, and another 3-4% will be gifted in the arts or music.
“With at least 10,000 STEM children, we can encourage them along a real career path, but we have to decide whether Thailand wants to be an innovation-based country,” he says.
Thanks to the government’s policy in support of technology and innovation in the commerce and industrial sectors, new human resources in the STEM field will be seen at vital.
There is land spanning 2,000 rai in the Wang Chan Valley where the government is developing the Eastern Economic Corridor of Innovation (EECi), scheduled to start construction in the third quarter of 2018.
The EECi is tentatively designed to be a cluster for research by state agencies and corporate firms. It will be another spoke from the innovation hub to support 10 targeted S-curve industries under the much-touted EEC scheme.
The business model of the EEC has proceeded to the implementation process with land and infrastructure development, and the government itself is holding roadshows in many countries to attract new investment.
Mr Rachain says KVIS and Vistec are ready to support the EEC scheme and the EECi hub.
KVIS was formerly known as the Rayong Science Academy (RASA) and received an endowment from national oil and gas firm PTT Group to ensure the sustainability, prosperity and longevity of the academy.
The conception of KVIS was the result of the farsighted vision and passion of Pailin Chuchottaworn, the former PTT chief executive and president, who wished to see Thailand emerge as a powerhouse in science and technology education.
The academy was initiated during 2009-10 when PTT conducted local community hearings on an environmental and health impact assessment (EHIA) report. The group endured gripes from locals who felt they received nothing from the huge investments by companies in Rayong province.
In 2011, PTT decided to establish a science academy and a research university in Rayong to benefit the local community. They were called RASA and the Rayong Institute of Science and Technology, later renamed KVIS and Vistec in 2013.
PTT made an initial investment of 5 billion baht in a 900-rai land plot of IRPC Plc in the Wang Chan Valley.
The educational complex was designed under the green building concept, with state-of-the-art facilities and educational equipment.
KVIS is the first Thai science school run by the private sector. Students at KVIS and Vistec receive a full scholarship, with some support from PTT Group.
I have to break down all the walls and barriers in the general mindset of Thais for several decades and make them think outside the box. RACHAIN KOSANLAVIT KAMNOETVIDYA SCIENCE ACADEMY PRINCIPAL