Thai DPM insists on merger of small schools

BANGKOK, May 15 (TNA) - Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana has insisted on the merger of small schools nationwide, amid opposition by some parties. Pongthep told journalists on Wednesday that he has ordered 182 primary educational service area offices nationwide to propose their management plans for small primary schools in their respective areas by May 24, 2013. The deputy premier promised, however, that community dwellers will have their say in the implementation of the Thai government's small school-merger policy. The deputy prime minister's remarks followed his meeting earlier in the day with members of the Thai Alternative Education Association who proposed that the Ministry of Education, instead, apply alternative education to improve small schools countrywide. The association also proposed that an educational development institute be set up, an alternative education law be passed and the government develops curricula and the evaluation criteria of the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment to suit each community's conditions. The association's secretary general, Chatchawal Thongdeelert, led representatives of teachers and parents of small schools' students to discuss the proposals with Deputy Premier Pongthep and Secretary-General of the Basic Education Commission Chinnapat Bhumirat. (TNA)