TDRI urges educational reforms in Thailand

BANGKOK, March 23 (TNA) - Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has encouraged the Thai government to cut study hours and to reduce educational disparities by appropriately disbursing state budgets, as part of its proposal on educational reforms nationwide. Dr. Somkiat Tangkitvanich, TDRI’s Research Director, says that studies over the past 10 years have shown a need to improve the national use of educational resources, pointing out even though budget for education and salaries for school personnel have been increased, Thai students' performance in national and international standardized tests has declined. Somkiat acknowledged that the TDRI studies have also shown the need to raise the accountability of Thai educational personnel at all levels. The TDRI research director, therefore, recommended keys to Thailand's educational reforms, including reducing study hours, improving varieties of teaching contents and evaluation methods, paying teachers’ salaries based on their performance evaluated every five years, as well as easing teachers’ responsibility in administrative workloads. The TDRI research chief has also suggested that agencies providing credential approvals and evaluation services modify their roles to be also the knowledge- supported agencies, while education budgets ensured to meet demand in separate areas in a fair manner. (TNA)