Education in crisis

Re: “O-Net students fail four out of five subjects”, ( BP, March 21).

Every year, more than 380,000 students in the 12th grade (Mathayom 6) take the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-Net) for university admission across five subjects. Of the five, on average, they passed only one subject, Thai language — their mothertongue language with an average score of 52.29, which in itself is merely a borderline pass. Combining the average scores of the five subjects, the overall national average score for all subjects was 34.46. A dismal score.

In addition, there is the gap between Sathit schools (university demonstration schools) and schools under the Office of the Basic Education Commission’s supervision and between urban schools versus rural schools, in which the former perform better.

The conclusion from this data is clear: We have a national crisis. Chasing a fugitive monk is not a national crisis. Nor is going after a former prime minister for alleged unpaid tax a national crisis.

Let me be crystal clear on this. It is not the students’ fault for scoring low marks in O-Net. Nor is it the parents’ fault. It is the responsibility of the state and educational institutions to make sure every student achieves their academic potential. If schools did their tasks of imparting knowledge properly, parents wouldn’t find it necessary to pay for expensive private tuition for their sons and daughters after classes.

Based on the results, I seriously encourage the government to declare “a war on poor exam scores”, making it a national priority. And do everything within their power to increase students’ academic performance.

A lot is at stake here. By way of example, consider Singapore. With few national resources available, led by Lee Kwan Yew, Singapore invested heavily in the only thing it knew that would maximise its collective destiny — human capital, in education and training. As a result of this decision by Lee Kwan Yew, Singapore now enjoys first-world status, with high GDP per capita.

Poor academic scores lead to low human capital, which leads to low national productivity, rendering us unable to compete with other nations. Whether the government wants to hear this or not, Thailand 4.0 will not be realised. And we will forever remain in the middle-income trap unless something is done now. EDWARD KITLERTSIRIVATANA