An Interview with Thai Permanent Secretary for Education Kasama Varavarn

[caption id="attachment_8896" align="alignleft" width="185" caption="Thai Permanent Secretary for Education Kasama Varavarn, Ed.D.'78"][/caption] In 1999, the Thai government instituted the National Education Act, a radical redesign of a flailing, decentralized education system responsible for the country's 12 million schoolchildren. The act offers new directions for curriculum reform, provides new systems for teacher recruitment and training, and extends national educational requirements. Playing a leading role in this effort is Kasama Varavarn, Ed.D.'78, who last year became Thailand's second-highest education official and the first woman named to the post of permanent secretary for education. Previously, she served as the director of Thailand's National Literacy Campaign and chaired the Executive Board of the UNESCO Institute for Education, in Hamburg, Germany. Ed.recently spoke with the new permanent secretary from Bangkok. Q: What do you hope to accomplish in your role as permanent secretary for education? A: I've given top priority to issues of equity and access for many disadvantaged groups, such as the illiterate, youth from remote rural areas, minority groups, the disabled, and children of migrant workers. Q: What are the biggest challenges facing Thailand's educational system today? A: The workforce as a whole has on average only 7 years of education. The act now provides and requires education for 12 years. School attendance, however, must be increased for this to yield positive results. The quality of education is another challenge. Thailand claims a literacy rate of over 90 percent, but the functional skills are likely to be too low to compete in an increasingly complex global economy. Last year, the national curriculum was totally revised to help students develop, among other skills, self-directed learning abilities, critical thinking, computer literacy, mastery of foreign languages, and life skills. Disparities of achievement and standards among students from different backgrounds and different schools continue to be my main concern. Although the government allocates about 18 percent of the national budget to education, the system lacks the resources to increase access and the quality of educational services. The inefficiency of the system is the result of the vast number of small schools, inadequate sharing of resources, and limited public contributions to education.

“I was often given the opportunity to do challenging work because, as a young woman, it was believed that I would not 'lose face' if I failed.”

Q: How is technology modernizing Thailand's schools and preparing students for the new global economy? A: The government has approved a plan to provide Internet connections to all schools by 2005. All secondary schools will be equipped with computers for learning and instructional purposes; all primary schools will be provided with computers. About 70 percent of our teachers are being trained to become computer literate, with plans to develop their new competencies for learning and teaching across the curriculum. Plans are also under way to design software for instructional purposes and to develop digital libraries. Q: Have you faced gender discrimination in your career? A: The Ministry of Education has always had women in executive positions. In fact, I was often given the opportunity to do challenging work because, as a young woman, it was believed that I would not "lose face" if I failed. As I moved up the ladder of the bureaucracy, there were some concerns raised that as a woman, I would not be tough enough to make decisions, to deal with crises, or to handle personnel issues. But after having been the director-general of four departments, some with over 400,000 teachers, gender is no longer a critical issue. Together with other women executives, I believe that through our work we have contributed to the acceptance of women in positions of authority. We have shown that we're adept at handling situations that require negotiation skills, professional standards, flexibility, and moral integrity. Q: What has been the impact of Thailand's National Education Act of 1999? A: The National Education Act has been a attempt to tackle in a comprehensive way the problems of the educational system. Areas covered by the Act include extending compulsory education from six years to nine years of education, providing 12 years of basic education free of charge, setting the direction for curriculum reform, and revising the system for teacher recruitment, training, and professional upgrading.

“We have much to share [with the U.S.] in terms of culture-oriented education, the role of local wisdom in education, and innovative forms of education that reach disadvantaged students.”

Among the Thai public, the Act has evoked a sense of urgency about education. It has generated unprecedented participation on the part of parents and the education community. It is expanding access to education at all levels as well as inaugurating curricular reforms and the nationwide training of teachers. But many measures proposed by the Act have been controversial. There has been a public outcry regarding the government's inability to meet some of the promised benefits, such as free education and increases in teacher salaries within a specified time frame. The resulting debate has led to many significant changes in the original plan, and I am hoping that continued dialogue between the government and the Thai people will ultimately result in a more feasible plan and deeper sense of ownership of the reform process by those who are affected. Q: The National Education Act calls for decentralizing Thailand's school system. Do you support the change? What benefit is this likely to have for Thai schools? A: Transfer to local government is a controversial issue in the Thai education system. While local governments have been strengthened with notable achievements in social services, concerns remain about their support for and competencies in managing educational programs. Personally, I am in full support of decentralization. But I feel that the process of decentralization needs to be planned and carried out carefully, as Thai schools are very diverse in nature. Some schools are fully capable of school-based management. Other schools are less well-prepared or are too small, and need to work together as networks. For these schools, supports from the local education offices and the local governments are still necessary. Likewise, recruitment and training of board members at the local education offices and at the school levels are crucial to the success of the decentralization process. Having seen in the first two years the increasing sense of ownership and commitment, and the quality of the school board members, I am confident that they will serve as effective partners for the schools. Q: What do you think Thai and American educators have to teach one another? A: The Thai education system can benefit from American research in the areas of learning and instruction, the development of textbooks and learning materials, the use of technology in education, assessment strategies, and the transition from school to the world of work. At the same time, we have much to share in terms of culture-oriented education, the role of local wisdom in education, and innovative forms of education that reach disadvantaged students. Q: What challenges do you face in promoting literacy throughout Thailand? A: We are currently tackling three types of illiteracy. Among the older population, for example, the main problems are failing eyesight, a relapse to illiteracy, and old age generally, which we must address through multidimensional programs that combine health, educational, and recreational measures. Among minorities who do not speak Thai as their first language, the motivation to learn among this group is now very high but our challenge is to find effective ways to reach and teach them. Lastly, we're confronting the problem of functional illiteracy, which increases as the society becomes more knowledge-based and technologically complex. Through the extension of compulsory education, subsidy of secondary education, provision of continuing equivalency education for specialized groups such as local leaders and the workforce, distance education and the establishment of community colleges across the country, we hope to upgrade the level of functional literacy. About the Article Part of this interview originally appeared in the Fall 2003 issue of Ed., the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.