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Published on December 3, 2007

Ban Thasathon School in Nakhon Si Tham-marat's Chu-uat district is a success story that many residents and social organisations hope will convince the Education Ministry to think twice about its plan to close down nearly 13,000 small schools.

Local people and the Network of Education for Children yesterday held a seminar at the Twin Lotus Hotel in Nakhon Si Thammarat to show the school is working out fine despite limited resources provided by the state.

"We have 27 students and two teachers from the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec). But the local community hires two more teachers for the school and there are a number of volunteer teachers," Wanchai Phutthong, one of the volunteers, told the seminar. "Many local people have volunteered their teaching services. I am here to tell communities not to underestimate their own abilities. Look at what Ban Thasa-thon is doing and you will know that you can do it too."

Another volunteer teacher said local people could teach well because they had first-hand experience about what they taught. "When they are teaching what a peat swamp forest is, they can take children into the forest and study," he said.

The seminar attracted more than 300 people. Education Ministry inspector-general Sunan Thepsri also attended the event. Although Sunan did not give any promise, the seminar organisers still hoped that the Education Ministry would consider allowing local communities and social organisations to run small schools instead of closing them.

"The Education Ministry should revise its thinking. The government must provide education to children. It should not think about profit or loss," Wanchai said.

Watchara Ketchu, another volunteer teacher, vowed to work for children until his life came to an end. "I will teach children to learn how to think, act and analyse things by themselves. I will teach them to be good, to love their hometown and to think positively until my last breath," he said.

He said Ban Thasathon School devoted 70 per cent of its curriculum to the Education Ministry's content and 30 per cent to what local communities wanted their children to know about.

Last year, the government announced that it was going to dissolve 12,828 small schools with less than 120 students - about 40 per cent of the 32,288 schools nationwide - after they were deemed not financially viable and of low quality compared to larger schools.

The small schools comprise 931,574 students and 58,655 teachers and each school had a limited budget via a Bt1,100-per-head subsidy provided by the government.

The Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment report last year also showed that 22,866 small schools (defined as those having less than 300 students) had undergone educational-standard assessments.

There were 491 schools in the "need of improvement" category, 15,528 were "fair", while 6,847 other schools were "good". The first two groups were regarded as failing to meet the basic educational standards.

Academic results also showed that students at small schools attained low achievements on average when compared to those from medium-sized and large schools, and had a higher proportion of students who needed improvement in each of the multi-level ranges. However, there were many small schools like Ban Thasa-thon School that chose not to close down, and instead struggle for survival by leaning on community cooperation and educational management networks and allies.

The school showcases a model of how community and social organisations can take charge of educational-service management while maintaining the community as the real owner of the school.

Ratchanee Thongchai, who participated in developing the curriculum for Ban Thasathon, said the curriculum was now awaiting Obec's approval.

Chularat Saengpassa,

Hatairat Deeprasert

The Nation