The Education Ministry may reintroduce the policy of requiring students to repeat a class year to improve the basic standard of education in Thailand, Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng said.
He said that currently students are automatically moved up to higher class each year, even though they may have failed many subjects, in the expectation they would pass the exam later.
However, it was questionable how some students still get a pass because in some schools they do not re-sit the exam at all.
Some female students may be assigned to work on flower arrangement and some male students help with cleaning the school - and they get a pass mark. In some cases, parents pressure schools to give their children a pass mark.
“These processes impact the quality of students and of overall education. In many cases students who are essentially illiterate continue their studies at secondary school,” Mr Chaturon. said
He favoured a revision of the exam re-sitting method, and the standard of evaluation. There should also be some form of special tutoring for failed students until they are good enough to move up to a higher class. Simply forcing failed students to take the same class again is not the solution, he said.
The ministry would discuss these ideas and possible solutions further with the appropriate related parties.
Mr Chaturon also said that the Office of Basic Education Commission and the Office of the Private Education Commission would need to revamp the foreign language teaching system, and introduce foreign language camps lasting two to three weeks, to improve the learning process.