Education Minister Trinuch Thiengthong is new to the job and hence, deserves the benefit of the doubt.
No, not really.
In an educational crisis where there’s a witchhunt of students who express democratic opinions. With teachers calling the police, threatening parents, and denying graduation. The only way to save the children and save their future is to have a true reformist heading the Education Ministry.
Not another bureaucrat who goes with the flow. Not another poo-yai who’s out of touch with the wants and needs of modern education. Not another traditionalist deaf to the plea and blind to the suffering of students.
On 12 April, Minister Trinuch posted on her Facebook Page, citing digital literacy as a key to solve educational inequality.
Dear Minister, with all due respect, no, it isn’t.
Any nine-year-old kid is more digitally literate than the entire government cabinet.
The root of Thailand’s inequality is the feudalistic cultural DNA that dominates our belief system and everything we do.
An expression of the feudalistic DNA is the education system, which the group Bad Student calls “fascist education.” It’s an education system designed to subjugate the human spirit, enslave the mind, and make us all zombies.
That’s the fate of the majority of Thai students, and that’s why they rebel. That’s why they wore the white ribbon and flashed the three-finger salute during the morning national anthem.
As proof that the students are correct in indicting the Thai education system as fascistic, teachers punish them for it.
Meanwhile, privileged children attend international schools and fancy western universities, benefitting from an entirely opposite educational philosophy to the one practices in Thai schools.
Educational inequality isn’t even the correct terminology. It’s educational slavery.
If your hair is too long, punishment. If your shorts or skirts are too short, punishment.
In class, copy everything down, memorize everything, recite everything. No questions asked, no contrary opinions expressed. The measurement of education? Multiple-choice exams.
After school? Tutorial classes. Weekends? Tutorial classes. Basically, earning the teachers more money. The goal? Passing multiple-choice exams.
Stand straight and still for the national anthem. Crawl on your knees at the feet of the poo-yai for indoctrination.
No doubt, there are excellent teachers out there. But the problem is the feudalistic and fascist beliefs that dominate Thailand’s education system.
Since the start of Thailand’s protests in February 2020, students nationwide have made it clear that they suffer under educational slavery.
But Minister Trinuch talks about digital literacy.
Dear Minister, with all due respect, you are missing the point.
2021-04-13