schooling in LOS?

[thai3]

I just received a newsletter from a charity I support in LOS giving some facts about schooling. Where they get the info from they do not say, but the claims surprise me. For example they say that 20% of kids do not complete secondary education and that early marriage and pregnancy prevent many girls from doing so. I thought girls could not get married until 15, which is when schooling ends?-peter

[Guest]

in many villages you have girls marrying before that age. that 15 year law counts for legal marriages, but many villagers simply do not bother with a legal marriage. they live the way they have always lived in those matters.

 

and having just a mor 3 certificate alone does not give you much here as well, most proper jobs here require much higher levels of education.

[New Petchburi Pete]

This is pretty widespread in rural Thailand. Those that marry before the 'legal' age sometimes file the paperwork to register the marriage later ... sometimes after having a couple of children. Authorities in some of the districts are totally indifferent regarding age at marriage.

[Flashermac]

I was talking about the education system here with a taxi driver the other day. We both agreed that the old Baw See (4th grade) certificate was a tough one. Nowadays, most students go to school up to 9 years, but really may not learn any more. Although mandatory education has been lengthened, what is actually required to be mastered has been watered down.

 

 

[think_too_mut]

>and that early marriage and pregnancy prevent many girls from doing so.

 

Talking about that part of school dropouts pool (not about those who discontinue their education for other reasons), IMO, pregnancy here equals marriage, although unregisterred.

 

If it happens at 14 or 15, they drop out and don't return to school again. Some may simply run away with their tbf and discontinue schooling even without pregnancy.

 

Not many good students do it that way, usually the weakest. Mostly poor, parentally neglected girls who stood little chance anyway. Just listen to almost any bg's story, that's about it.

[lopburi3]

could not get married until 15, which is when schooling ends?-

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As has been noted; school should not end at 15 if they want to have any chance at employment outside of family. A degree is almost a requirement for access to basic level employment here. This degree may not have much meaning in real world understanding but it is the paper that counts and shows the person to be trustworthy enough to be given a chance.

As for the education itself there is a wide latitude but almost all places suffer from too large a class size. But I have been impressed over the last 10 years in the advancement of teaching in pre school in our mooban kindergarten. Third year includes many logic tests that we (and least I) would have to think long and hard to answer. But this is done in small groups. Fear much is lost when they hit the 40 person classroom of grade 1. Although they try to group people at the same level in each class at larger schools this would not be possible at smaller places.