Rich vs. poor in education: Doomed to middle income trap?

Poor vs. rich education gap is root problem in low national test scores & worldwide rankings, prioritize educating the poor is obvious but ignored solution.

EDUCATION & ECONOMIC PROSPERITY

Rich vs. poor in education: Doomed to middle income trap?

28/03/2017
Kornchanok Raksaseri & Prasit Tangprasert

The average score for almost all subjects was below 50% in the latest Ordinary National Educational Test (O-Net) results.

This does not bode well for the future unless the government takes steps to address the main problem: the disparity between rich and poor children in education.

Thailand wants to escape the so-called middle income trap

But to accomplish this goal in any reasonable timeframe, let's say within 20 years, the government must re- allocate resources to prioritise educating the underprivileged, an educational development expert said this week.

EDUCATIONAL GAP BETWEEN RICH CITIES & POOR COUNTRYSIDE

"Both O-Net and Pisa [Programme for International Student Assessment] results over the past three years have pointed to the same problems: a gap between students in the cities and rural areas, and between the haves and have-nots," according to Kraiyos Patrawart, assistant managing director of Thailand's Quality Learning Foundation.

The poor test scores reflect Thailand's economic and social disparities, he added.

"In 20 years' time, today's sixth graders will have joined the workforce."

"Unless we raise the quality of education, as well as the living standards of the lower 40% of Thai society, we will not escape the middle income trap," he said.

Improving education for the underprivileged would also help reduce crime and other social problems, he added.

The government's budget should focus on those areas most in need, particularly rural areas, as students and schools in cities can seek support from parents, communities and the private sector, Mr Kraiyos said.

DISMAL NATIONAL TEST SCORES

The O-Net test results for the last academic year, which were released on Saturday, showed the average scores of 9th grade students (Mathayom 3) fell below 50% in all five key subjects -- mathematics, English, Thai language, social studies and sciences.

Meanwhile, the results for 6th graders (Prathom 6) showed that students failed four out of the five subjects on average, with only Thai language yielding an average score of just over 52%.

RICH CITY KIDS SCORED HIGH, POOR COUNTRY KIDS SCORED LOW, AS USUAL

The O-Net results also showed students at university demonstration schools, or Satit schools in Thai, outperformed their peers at schools under the supervision the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) in every subject.

This is according to the National Institute of Educational Testing Service, which organised the tests.

The results also showed that students at large schools earned the highest average scores, while city kids did better than students in rural areas.

SCRAP THE TEST ENTIRELY

Prof Sompong Chitradub, a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Education, said educators, teachers and students were pressured to improve scores from last year.

However, this does not appear to have worked, he said, adding the tests should be scrapped.

COMBINE TEACHER TRAINING WITH WORK FOR THE POOR

It is worth noting innovative programs to address the rich-poor educational gap that have been used in richer western countries.

Getting promising motivated people without an education degree to teach in poor rural and urban areas while receiving teacher training to become a full teacher is an obvious good idea.

This is the winning combination that has been used in western countries such as in the US (Teach for America) and in the UK (Teach First) (see previous article here).

Steps are being taken to recruit teachers in some areas where there is a severe shortage of teachers (read today's article here).

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1222550/expert-urges-education-for-poor

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1222860/government-rethinks-softer-teacher-entry-rules

http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/advanced/1220505/teacher-recruitment-strong-backgrounds-in-science-math

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1223064

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