Language Policy and Development of Education Management in Public Schools in Thailand Busaba Prapasapong Bureau of Academic Affair and Educational Standards Office of the Basic Education Commission The Ministry of Education

More than 70 Languages Hierachy From nation level down to regional and community National Level Standard Thai  Regional Level Northern Thai, Northeasten Thai, Souhern Thai, Central Thai. Community Level urban languages, market languages, border areas languages, enclave languages

National Language & Compulsory Education Standard Thai has been used to build national uniqueness for over 100 years. Compulsory education act of 1921 required Thai youth in the area 3200 metre from school to go to school until able to read and write Thai.

On June 24, 1940 the Thai language was declared the national language. ‘All Thais need to honor, and be proud to speak or use the Thai language. It is the duty of all Thais to learn Thai. It is a significant duty to persuade the Thai people, no matter from which regions, to learn to use Thai.’ Students were practically not allowed to speak their own languages in school.

After 1967, a new idea emerged. There were efforts to convince the people to join in political idealism. Children from remote areas were supported to study with other children from different languages.

Key Policy Documents 1997, New Constitution, 1999, Basic Education Act covering all kinds and areas of education, 2001-02, Basic Education Curriculum, These are the principles and guidelines of the national education management covering all types and groups of education.

The Constitution (1997) and the Education Act (1999) : Emphasis on decentralization, rights, duties, liberty, equality, human dignity and difference to all Thai… Emphasis on the participation of community and other social institutes. The use of local and Thai wisdoms applying to education and community development encouraged. (Sections 7,8,22,26,28,29)

Curriculum & languages The Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) is the core curriculum for building up the national uniqueness. Local and individual schools are able to create additional substance and local wisdom for the needs of their community. (BEC, Section 27,28,29) The Thai policy neither supports nor prohibits the use of local languages, but emphasize the application of local and Thai wisdom in education management.

Local Languages The policy has a great impact on the paradigm shift of education personnel both in the central and provincial areas. The policy takes into account local languages, though still does not see them as important as Standard Thai. In practice, local languages are used orally in classes in some minority areas, as teachers want and need to communicate with their students especially at early grades.

Facts on the Quality of Education Success in extending education opportunities but The 2007-2008 examination results showed that most of the Thai students achieved less than 50% in every main subject. About 12.45% of Grade 2 students could not read or write Standard Thai. Over 25% of students in 10 areas have problems in reading and writing Standard Thai. The problem is very serious in remote areas and relates to different languages spoken by teachers and students.

Office of Basic Education Commission now supports new approaches Applying both local language and Thai into learning process in the minority areas of Southern and Western provinces, The pilot project partners with Mahidol University, the Foundation for Applied Linguistics(FAL), Pestalozzi Children’ Foundation and UNESCO.

Problems / Challenges: How to carry out the bilingual pilot project successfully and quickly? How to fund the project apart from the budget from the Ministry of Education? How to apply and start using the successful experiences from other projects? How to train key personnel to run the project in different places?

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