The Education Ministry has scrapped a plan to make English the country’s second language, saying it could lead to misunderstandings that Thailand had been colonised in the past.
The ministry will make English the main foreign language instead of the second official language, Education Minister Chinnaworn Boonyakiat said yesterday.
A subcommittee on education standards development under the committee on education reform proposed in July that English be made the country’s second official language. The panel hoped this would spur students to achieve proficiency in English and help place the nation on the road map to the Asean Community in 2015.
Mr Chinnaworn said the ministry had carefully considered the proposal and found it might lead to misunderstandings among people and agencies responsible for implementing the policy. Other countries that have declared English a second official language were normally viewed as former colonies, he said. Thai is the only official language of Thailand.
The minister maintained that the ministry would make a serious effort to improve English teaching and learning in schools even though the second language proposal had been scrapped.
The ministry would outline its key policies for education improvement on Friday, with the attempt to make English the main foreign language on the agenda.
The plan calls for the development of English teaching and learning at popular public and private schools to be on a par with international standards. After completing their education at those schools, students would be able to communicate fluently in English, he said.
Native speakers would be recruited to teach English to senior secondary school students, and the ministry would seek the cooperation of the Foreign Affairs Ministry to contact foreign teachers to teach the students.
The ministry would also announce its policy on revamping the school curriculum on Friday.
Banagkok Post
