Wie eine Bildungsreform am Arbeitskräftebedarf ausgerichtet sein kann, zeigt die Trat's Khaonoi Wittayakom High School in der Provinz Trat im Osten Thailands. Dort erwerben die Studierenden diejenigen Kompetenzen, die sie für den Besuch einer Berufsschule oder für eine Arbeitsstelle wirklich benötigen.
Studebts'studies in step with local labour demands
Trat school a reform role model
Matching education
reform to the labour needs of a province is well illustrated at Trat's Khaonoi
Wittayakom High School, where students learn the necessary skills for studying
further at vocational schools or finding a job after graduating.
School
director Prathan Tawiphon said Khaonoi had 10 after-school skill-training
activities to give students vocational skills and encourage them to enter
vocational education, in order to tackle unemployment and encourage students to
work in their hometown.
The Provincial Education Reform programme is led
by Quality Learning Foundation (QLF), which presented Trat as a role model for
the initiative due to the success it has had in cooperating with all sectors to
promote vocational education to fulfil the province's labour needs.
Suwitthaya Thongkam, a Mattayom 6 (Grade 12) student, said most after-school
activities related to agricultural skills because most students' families were
farmers. He was taking part in an orchid-cultivation activity, which could see
him earn more than Bt10,000 per month from selling orchids.
"Even though
I did not choose to study at a vocational school like many of my friends, I
think I shall study at the Faculty of Agriculture at Kasetsart University,
because I am interested in orchid cultivation and I shall work here in Trat as
an orchid farmer," he said.
Prathan said the school had received help
from Trat Community College in terms of instilling teachers and student with
vocational skills.
He said that along with providing students with
agricultural skills, the school also had accounting and Cambodian-language
classes.
"Last academic year, 60 per cent of our students studied
further at local vocational schools, while most of the remaining 40 per cent
chose to study a |vocational field at university," he said.
"However, we
don't remove opportunities for students with talents in other subjects."
Tanya Hanphon, chairman of Trat's Education Reform Project committee, said
education reform was needed in the province, as many new graduates were not in
step with local labour needs and had to travel to Bangkok to find a job - or end
up unemployed.
Tanya said that under the |project primary and high
schools encouraged students to study more vocational skills and get parents to
view vocational study in a positive light.
"Trat's economy is run by the
three major sectors here: agriculture, trans-border trade and tourism, and all
sectors need skilled workers at the vocational level," he said.
"Therefore, what we try to do here is encourage our children to study a
vocational degree so they will have a job and can work in their hometown after
they graduate.
"We need 70 per cent of the students to study at a
vocational branch and 30 per cent to study at a standard branch, but currently
the situation is the other way around."
However, he said that going to
university or a vocational school straight away was not a necessity, as it was
better to let new graduates start working and help develop their hometowns and
then they could study at a higher learning institution later in life.
Trat Primary Educational Service Area deputy director Thanachai Upa-rirat said
that by equipping students with more vocational skills, it gave them a chance to
discover what area(s) they have an aptitude for and if vocational study suits
them.
"The four vocational institutes in Trat also take part in the
|education reform," Thanachai said. "They work together with the public schools
by providing lecturers for specific skills to teach students and help guide
students with their study plans."
Pattanapong Sukmadan, the QLF academic
handling the Trat education reform project, said that the province had an
outstanding reputation among the 15 provinces involved in the project because it
cooperates with every sector to bring about reform.
Pattanapong said
that since the project launch three years ago, Trat's education had progressed a
lot and it could be a role model for other provinces.