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Published on January 30, 2008

"Our goal is to make sure that students are literate upon completion of Grade 3 and are fluent in Thai upon completion of Grade 6," Obec secretary-general Khunying Kasama Varawan said yesterday.

She said students would be expected to score at least 55 out of 100 points in the final Thai-language exam to complete Grade 6.

Under the literacy programme, the main focus would be on accuracy in reading and writing for Grades 1 to 6, and for Grades 7 to 12, the emphasis would be on reading and writing practice, summarising information and writing compositions.

Kasama said Obec would also be developing indicators to determine students' and teachers' performance and all schools would be required to submit yearly reports based on these indicators from 2009.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has reported that about 37 per cent of 15-year-olds nationwide have very poor reading skills, which hurts their performance in other subjects. This report corresponds with students' scores in the Ordinary National Educational Test, in which most students scored less than half of possible points in all subjects.

In 2006, Obec also found some 79,358 or 13 per cent of Grade-2 students nationwide were unable to read or write.

 The Nation