According to the Equitable Education Fund ( EEF), disparities in access to learning resources that started in the pre-school years are to blame for the poor simple life and work knowledge, which accounted for about 3.3 trillion ringgit in economic opportunity costs in 2022.
Prasarn Trairatvorakul, president of the EEF’s governing table, said on Saturday that this” issue of basic knowledge” was detected in a 2022 survey simultaneously conducted by the EEF, World Bank, Thammasat University and National Statistical Office among people aged 15 to 64.
According to Mr. Prasarn, a former governor of the Bank of Thailand ( BoT), three-quarters of students and people of working age found having problems using blogs for an easy task they were required to complete while two-thirds of adolescent and adult were unable to comprehend short information they were required to read and understand before solving an easy problem.
In contrast, more than 30 % of people in the trial were found to have passion to start something new for community, he said.
” All these problems were estimated to have cost Thailand more than 3.3 trillion baht in the value of economic opportunity losses, or 20 % of the country’s gross domestic product ( GDP ) in 2022″, he said.
He attributed this issue to a mastering slog that started in the pre-school years and continues into compulsory education, from primary school to high school, and continues up until these people enter the labor market.
Last year, the EEF found that up to 1.8 million individuals were considered “extremely bad” and thoroughly in need of monetary assistance, while just 1.24 million received support from the Electron, he said.
The number of extremely weak individuals rose significantly from about 994, 400 recorded in 2020, he said.
Being really bad is a significant factor that prevents children from getting enough opportunities and resources, leading to many students ultimately dropping out of school, according to the former central bank chief.
Simply one-tenth of individuals who were really poor could continue their education at the higher education degree between 2019 and 2023, he said.
Schooling prices at the higher education levels were found to be between 13, 200 and 29, 000 baht per quarter, equal to the average monthly income of the home of these poor learners, he said.
Prasarn: Being exceedingly bad causes many to drop out of school
The teaching costs included access examination fees, accommodation book, uniforms and education fees, he said.
More than 25 % of primary school students nationwide had poor listening comprehension skills, according to a related study conducted by the EEF and Weerachart Kilenthong, a researcher at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce ( UTCC). In addition, every province had on average 15 % of students who scored mediocre on listening comprehension tests, according to Mr. Prasarn, a researcher at the Research Institute for Policy Evaluation and Design.
And two-thirds of Thai students over the age of 15 had lower reading and math skills than the average student their age, according to a study conducted by the Programme for International Student Assessment ( Pisa ).
According to Mr. Prasarn, the government may invest more in developing people capital starting in primary schools.