Framework needed for virtue scores: Paitoon

CUPT president Monthon Sa-nguansoemsi said the council would hold a meeting to discuss the matter on February 16.

Paitoon said the use of virtue scores in the university admission system should be clear on what these aspects of virtue were, and that they should also be appropriate to the faculty that the students were applying to.

Although the introduction of virtue scores into the admission system would encourage young people to participate in activities for social causes, the system could not be expected to solve youth problems, he urged.

The admission system's objective was to assess students' academic ability, whether their ability was appropriate to their desired faculty and whether they were prepared for undergraduate study, he said. "It's not the case that if youths have problems, we can solve them via university admission," he added.

CUPT president and Naresuan University rector Monthon Sa-nguansoemsi said the CUPT would discuss the implementation of virtue scores as part of the admission system in 2009, if the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) submitted the agenda in time. Many universities would use virtue scores during student interviews this year, he added.

He expressed his personal view that Obec should make the virtue assessment a criteria for all students rather than those with outstanding achievements.

Obec secretary-general Khunying Kasama Varawarn Na Ayutthaya said the Obec-assigned team was working on the criteria for virtue scores.

She said that the first phrase of implementing virtue assessment would focus on students who did good deeds for society and had outstanding achievements, rather than assessing the general virtues of all students.

She said most universities were interested in using virtue scores in their individual direct admission systems.

Chuleeporn Aramnet

The Nation