Deputy minister keen to expand UniNet to secondary schools
When he joined the Cabinet, Deputy Education Minister Chaiyos Chirametakorn had his heart set on the Industry portfolio. The thought of working with intellectuals filled him with dread.
"I felt like it was going to be very pressured," he said in an exclusive interview with The Nation.
As an MP from the Puea Pandin Party negotiating for a Cabinet post, the Education Ministry was on his "No No list," alongside the Public Health and Foreign Affairs.
"Back then, I thought it was going to be too hard for me to rein in PhD holders working at prestigious higher-educational institutes," Chaiyos admitted.
However, true to a Thai adage, "You will get what you hate", Chaiyos was named the new deputy education minister in the last Cabinet reshuffle. He officially took up the post on June 10.
After one month in office, Chaiyos in many ways couldn't be happier.
"When I meet Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva these days, I tell him that there is no need to rotate me to another ministry," Chaiyos said.
In the very beginning, he asked for the top post at the Industry Ministry because he thought his qualifications would allow him to excel there.
"To tell the truth, I even drafted a speech to deliver as the Industry Minister. I did not get an opportunity to read that speech, though," Chaiyos said.
However, since starting at the Education Ministry, he has had no regrets.
"Working here gives me much fun. Now I have so many ideas about how to improve the country's educational sector," he said. "I think I am so lucky to work in this position".
Chaiyos said he has discovered his job can help in the laying down of a good foundation for children. His job is about human-resource development, not just about the provision of academic knowledge or occupational skills.
He fully believes that children's development should start from a very young age.
As a father, Chaiyos said he read books to his children while they were still inside his wife's womb.
His children now rank as 'bookworms'.
"I am going to promote reading among all children via the integration of schools' and universities' libraries," Chaiyos vowed.
Launched many years ago, the UniNet project (Inter-University Network) links universities' libraries.
"So, why not link these libraries to those of secondary schools too?" Chaiyos said.
In the beginning, he said the UniNet project considered including some 2,000 secondary schools first and expanding its network later.
To date, the UniNet project has developed thanks to a huge government budget. In the next step, students at various institutes will be able to not only see what books other facilities have, but also to read the content via the electronic system.
"This is a way to deliver the books that may be of interest to them," Chaiyos said. He said donated books sometimes failed to promote reading because they might not appeal to children.
He insisted that interesting books could encourage children to read more or inculcate in them the love for reading.
"I have found the Harry Potter series promotes reading around the world," he pointed out.
Apart from reading, Chaiyos has paid attention to research too.
"I think the government budget for research purposes should be equivalent to one per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP)," Chaiyos said.
However, the research budget allocated by the government has stood at just 0.21 per cent of the country's GDP over the past 15 years.
Chaiyos revealed the government's plan to inject Bt9 billion to national research universities and Bt3 billion to 69 other universities for research purposes had not gone ahead. Earlier, the plan had been highly publicised as a means to move the country ahead. The budget was supposed to come from Thai Khemkhaeng II project.
"Due to the limited budget, things have not gone as planned," the new deputy education minister said.
Seeing that most Thai representatives in the 2010 Academic Olympiads come from just two schools, the Mahidol Wittayanusorn and the Triam Udom Suksa schools, Chaiyos is inspired to develop, "One District, One Intensive Science Class" project.
He hoped to get about Bt200 million in funds to help this project materialise.
"This project should be able to recruit university lecturers to conduct intensive science classes for selected students," Chaiyos said. He believed each class should have about 30 students.