It was found that more than 15,000 schools badly need improvement due to unqualified teachers, bad academic performances, poor analytical thinking among students and lack of vision among school administrators.

Is there any improvement in national education after seven years of reform?

The Education Ministry has been unable to reach the heart of educational reform as it gave priority to administrative structure rather than improving schools. This is evident from the first round of elementary-school quality checks in which 15,000 schools failed the evaluation, while 560 schools are in a 'coma' - especially small schools in remote areas. However, I believe in the new education minister, who has vowed that the reforms will reach these school under the interim government.

What are the main problems?

The main problem is the lack of teachers. Sixty per cent of the schools face this dilemma - while only 20 per cent meet the required number. It could be said we need 73,000 more teachers right now. Meanwhile, 60 per cent, or up to 400,000 teachers, have problems with the quality of their teaching. It is beyond the schools' ability to solve the problem without the help of the ministry.

Moreover, about 30,000 school executives need to improve their academic approach because they have always given priority to financial matters and the physical structure of the schools rather than the improvement of the students.

What are the solutions?

The ministry has to give more administrative power to the schools in the form of 'School Based Management'. This would make school administrations more flexible as they would be able to recruit teachers themselves.

The ministry also has to create 'change agents' by establishing an independent unit to improve the quality of 680,000 education personnel.

Good teachers should be invited to help train others. It would be more useful if the training occurs during real class time.

Forty years ago, top-grade students received government scholarships to study further and become teachers. But those people are gone now.

Nowadays, many people become teachers only because they can't find other jobs after graduation. I think state scholarships for top-grade students should be reintroduced.

Furthermore, an increase in Educational Service Area Offices is needed as nowadays each of the 175 offices oversees as many as 200-300 schools, which is far too much of a workload. If we had as many as 295 offices, each of them would work effectively as they would be responsible for only 200 schools.

To improve academic standards in schools, students in grades 3, 6, 9 and 12 across the country should be evaluated by a national test to pass their class.

What about the findings on schools in the three southernmost provinces?

Unsurprisingly, only 24 per cent of the schools met the standards. Due to the unrest in the region, some big schools that once had 2,000 students now have only 100, and just one teacher.

To approach and assess the schools was not an easy job, we had to use academics from local universities to conduct the check for us.

What educational improvement do you expect under the interim government?

Education Minister Wijit Srisa-an is an educator who knows the situation clearly and could really move things forward without any concern about political popularity.

Moreover, reform requires more money. Fortunately, the new finance minister sees education as important. I can say that this is a rare chance for national education to make real progress.

Quality education is desperately needed for a democratic country, otherwise the nation will be unable to move forward.