The Ministry of Education is preparing to
develop more bilingual and multilingual schools for children from various
ethnic groups in Thailand and other ASEAN countries, so that they will be
educated and can live happily in Thai society.
The Deputy Secretary-General of the Office of
the Basic Education Commission Kamol Rodklai said that a number of people
living in many areas in Thailand speak ethnic languages and communicate in Thai
as their second language.
He said that the Office deemed it necessary to develop
education programs for young people from ethnic families. A survey, conducted
in target areas by the Office of the Basic Education Commission, shows that
190,000 schoolchildren in 1,164 schools use 39 ethnic languages from
neighboring countries.
Mr. Kamol said that members of these ethnic
groups are ASEAN citizens. When the ASEAN Community is in place, the number of
people from these groups might increase. Apart from their ethnic languages,
they should learn Thai and other ASEAN languages, as well, so that they would
benefit from regional integration.
Today, the Office of the Basic Education
Commission has developed schools for ethnic groups covering more than 50
percent of target areas. Among these schools, 11 are bilingual, located in the
four regions of Thailand, such as Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in the North, and
Kanchanaburi in the West. In the eastern region, these schools are located in
the provinces where ethnic groups speak Cambodian and Vietnamese. In the South,
they are situated in the areas where the local Malay is widely spoken. The
Office will expand the number of schools of this type to 29 in 2014 and to
1,600 in 2017.
Ms. Praiwan Pitaksalee, Director of the Bureau
of Academic Affairs and Educational Standards, Office of the Basic Education
Commission, said that there were several problems in operating bilingual
schools. In the first problem, many teachers cannot speak the local ethnic
language. When they teach for a certain period, they have to move elsewhere.
Only a few local teachers have been hired, and their income is low.
The second problem is that parents and members
of the local community do not understand why their children have to study
bilingual education programs, as they already speak the ethnic language with
them. Other problems involve the lack of continuity in management and budget
allocation. In addition, there are still no cultural links that can help local
people to live together peacefully amidst diversity.
The Office of the Basic Education Commission has
come up with some measures to ease these problems. For instance, the promotion
of teaching the local ethnic language must be carried out based on the local
context. The Thai language must be taught, together with the local ethnic
language. Teachers of bilingual and multilingual programs will be recruited to
teach in border areas and special zones where local people speak other
languages as their mother tongues. The Office of the Basic Education Commission
will work with local educational institutions in providing training for
teachers in the lingual, or multilingual, programs.
(thailand.prd.go.th)