Thread: Thailand: 60% of preschoolers never see a book

I would guess that is the story in many countries, many of my kids friends dont have a book read to them, nursery / school is the first time they see one.

Norton is spot on. My kids were read to from the age of less than 1 every night. First with large picture books, then getting more and more into the act of being read to. They now love books and can read in Thai or English. Though they much prefer English. They read the trilogy of " The Hunger Games" in English. Then refused to believe me it was in print in Thai. Boy were they angry when the found out the characters as well as the whole plot had been changed and dummied down.

They said they took all the literature and figurative language had been taken out of it and made it read like a comic book. I am so glad they love the printed word. The school has a great library and if a book is not in stock you may have a Kindle and they download if for the student.

This my comic I have bangkok post Sunday for kids

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Education Minister Suchart Thadathamrongvej said the literacy rate in the country is growing. He said 97% of the population can read and the remaining 3% are mostly elderly.

I call bullshit. Or perhaps it's just another one of those 'white lies'?

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Education Minister Suchart Thadathamrongvej said the literacy rate in the country is growing. He said 97% of the population can read and the remaining 3% are mostly elderly.

Absolute bollocks.

Edit: Hmmm.... UNICEF is claiming 98%?

Not according to Mao.
Thailand: 60% of... (Thailand: 60% of preschoolers never see a book) 10-09-2012 07:06 PM Chairman Mao Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Give us your opinion on books mate, especially for children. You are a TEACHER aren/t you?

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Meanwhile, over five million children aged 13 to 18 had left school altogether and the number keeps growing, she said.

I love those idiotic statements that actually mean nothing

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Meanwhile, over five million children aged 13 to 18 had left school altogether and the number keeps growing, she said.

with story tellers like this... story telling = brainwashing...

Perhaps Yingluck will buy them all a Kindle for the next election.

Amen!

Academics decry low reading rate, demand reform | Bangkok Post: news

Academics decry low reading rate, demand reform

• Published: 26/10/2012 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

Low reading rates among children and youth are proof of the failure of the Thai education system, and of the urgent need to reform it, academics said yesterday.

According to the Global Competitive Report of the World Economic Forum this year, the quality of the Thai education system is ranked at 77th among 142 countries, tumbling 11 spots from last year, said Wittayakorn Chiangkul, dean of the College of Social Innovation at Rangsit University.

The decline was partly due to the low reading rate among young Thais, the academic said, adding that a recent survey by the National Statistical Office also found that only 18.5% of Thai kids read every day while 14.9% rarely read.

Thais read five books a year on average, while people in developed countries such as Japan read 50 books a year.

"Successful developed countries are reported to have high reading rates, because reading is an important self-learning method that can develop people's qualities," Mr Wittayakorn said during an event launching a list of 100 books recommended for Thai children and youth. Under the project, commissioned by the Quality Learning Foundation, a six-member committee led by Mr Wittayakorn has selected 100 Thai-language books with content that will promote the development of children.

According to the selection criteria, the books must have literary value, have content suitable for young readers and encourage children to learn more about Thai culture and society.

The books are divided into three categories _ those suitable for readers aged 0-6 years, 6-12 and 12-18.

The project aims to encourage Thai children to develop a reading habit.

Parts of the reason for the low reading rate, Mr Wittaya said, is that "education policy-makers give priority to technology such as computers or tablets rather than reading".

"The education system must be reformed. Rather than just using lectures as a main teaching method, we must focus more on getting children to read."

Pornpilai Lerdwicha, an academic specialising in brain-based learning who has joined the 100 good books project, said the low reading rate was partly influenced by children being introduced to technology from an early age.

"Before the age of seven, kids will absorb whatever adults introduce to them," explained Ms Pornpilai.

"But if computer games and television are introduced to them at this age, they are more likely to stick to that technology when they grow up."

Apart from early introduction of technology, Ms Pornpilai said authorities did not pay enough attention to education.

Local authorities allocate most of their budgets to infrastructure improvement, she said, with little attention to building libraries or improving schools.

The list of 100 good books will be disseminated to teachers and the general public as a guideline for book selection for youngsters. The list is also be available at สำนัà¸�งานส่งเสริมภªà¸±à¸‡à¸„มà¹�ห่งà¸�à¸²à¸£à¹€à¸£à¸µà¸¢à¸™à ¸£à¸¹à¹‰à¹�ละพัฒนาคุณà¸[at]าพเยาวชน (สสค.).

My oldest boy is 5 and at school i speak to him every night when i call his mum , for the last 3 nights he keeps asking me to get him a fokin i pad, i dont even know how to run one of those rigs myself, is this usual for a 5 year old? i spoil him rotten but reckon i might draw the line there , unless anybody can put a positive spin on it , foked if i can see the sense in buying a 5 year old a computer

there's a good little boy! ,, now let mummy show you how to use it.

Originally Posted by adzt1

there's a good little boy! ,, now let mummy show you how to use it.

i call "his" mum (my wife) Not my mum , point i was making was should i be buying a computer for a 5 year old , i reckon he should be reading a fOKIN BOOK

^ + ^^^^ '...he keeps asking me to get him a fokin i pad, i dont even know how to run one of those rigs myself, is this usual for a 5 year old?'
Yes it is, thank you, even in sleepy SanPatong (CMai) where my 5yo granddaughter took a fancy to her classmate's iPad, visiting his parent's home after school most days to get up to speed. We purchased her an iPad of her own. Many of the students in this Thai school own their own.
My 9 yo niece in America also has had access to a computer from an early age. The kindergarten classes of Prem International/Tridhos in MaeRim have always had their own computers; and all school classrooms enable ease of access to the internet via fibre optic cable. (I mention this as I had once taught Primary/Secondary School English there, and am aware of its beneficial influence on nearby village schools.)
Reading from books, as you so eloquently phrased it, should be cultivated from an early age; but the caregivers have to continually encourage this; provided they too can read.
Both book and computer literacy are a triumphant pairing in today's world for our children: the earlier they begin both, the better.

He got the idea from his classmate at school , im from a different generation mate, Technologicly challenged me, OK fok it then , sounds like 5 year old s need i pads i better get him one then

Youngsters 'fail behavioural tests' | Bangkok Post: news

Youngsters 'fail behavioural tests'

• Published: 28/10/2012 at 06:44 PM
• Online news: Local News

The development of Thai children aged 3-5 has worsened, with many failing standard tests on early childhood behavioural competency, a study has found.

The tests on children’s development in seven areas -- social, emotional, cognitive, language, morals and creativity -- were jointly carried out by Books for Children Foundation (FFC), the Education Ministry and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (THPF) and UNICEF Thailand.

They were performed on 457 children in youth development centres belong to 16 local administrative organisations in six provinces including Chiang Rai, Phitsanulok, Loei, Chanthaburi, Uthai Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat. The research began in August last year and is due to be completed in March next year.

FFC manager Ruangsak Pinprateep said the test results showed certain behavioural aspects of Thai children had been largely neglected.


Young children enjoy story-telling activities at the Family Book Festival held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in July. Photo by Pawat Laopaisarntaksin.

For example, none of the children participating in the study passed tests in cognitive development, showing lack of basic memory skills such as telling their home telephone numbers and emergency numbers. In other countries, Mr Ruangsak said, young children had been taught to remember such important information so that they could help themselves when they get lost without their parents.

The "appalling result" of the study was that all youngsters in the three age groups were not able to describe the basic features or characteristics of objects such as hot, long, heavy, big -- and were not able to use words like "yesterday", "today" and "tomorrow" correctly, showing a lack of concept formation.

On moral development, the children were asked to demonstrate behaviour reflecting understanding of morality in which one of the tests used the concept “not to take other people's possessions as their own”. Mr Ruansak said 74.62% of 3-year-olds and 68.75% of 4-year-olds could pass, but none of 5-year-olds did. The results could reflect a thorough picture of morality among the young. He warned such habits could burrow into the children’s behavioural patterns until they grow up unless their consciences were trained to know right from wrong.

On adaptive social behaviour, he said, children aged 3 and 5 failed to describe how their behaviour affects other people's feelings and behaviour. Just 1.04% of 4-year-olds passed the test.

Also on demonstrating strength and movements using small muscles, all aged groups were not able to “fold paper into simple shapes without assistance”. This was because many young children had not been encouraged by their parents or teachers to use their small muscles during play and other physical activities, the FCC manager claimed.

Mr Ruangsak said the first five years of a child's life are fundamentally important for developing their behaviour, personality and intellectuality. Parents should encourage their children to regularly do activities deemed useful to their brain development as well as design extra ones to activate new skills in them.

Thailand currently has about 17 million young children, or 22% of its total population, said Penpan Jittasaenee, director of THPF’s healthy child, youth and family promotion bureau.

According to Public Health Ministry statistics, the development of behavioural competency among Thais in their early years had fallen from 80% in 1992 to 70% last year, she added.

Originally Posted by tsicar

it's not the kids OR the education system that is at fault here:

i can speak only for what i saw in isaan, and in isaan, the bloody culture is at fault:

the parents don't see why the kids need an education.
they don't give a shit for their kids, and see them only as future cheap labour and possibly a retirement option.
\
they think that good parenting means giving the child his way when he throws a tantrum;
buy the little fukkr kanom so he will stop screaming instead of giving the little piece of shit a whack alonside the ear!

kids (even those who actually WANT an education), are pulled out of schoool as soon as the parents think they can read and perhaps add with the help of a calculator, to tend cattle, cook and clean for the family, or work the ricefields

.. now before the replies come in about the "poor fukkn isaan farmees need to have the kids work to help the family or they will starve" bullshit,
let me just say this:

bullshit!!!
they simply don't see the need for education 'coz their lives are too bloody easy!

it's the PARENTS who need to be educated before the kids have a chance.
..and sady that is the start of the vicous cycle that disadvantages these kids and will keep disadvantaging THEIR kids and so on until they finally wake up, too late and they will go hungry.

Tiscar you got it right all the way. I first visited Issan 8 years ago while living in Bangkok and have lived in Korat for 6 years in a local village out side of Korat. My wife and I try to help poor children as much as we can with food and clothes and enourage them to stay in school. The parents tell my wife that grade 6 is enough and that they cannot to buy books - no money. Maybe they could buy books if they bought less lotto tickets, smoked less cigarettes, and drank less beer. Sometimes living in Issan can be sad.