A different school of thought 

PUBLISHED : 14 SEP 2014 
 

With Thailand's rankings on global indices consistently poor, some institutions
are pushing a fresh approach to teaching

'We don't have a flag ceremony at 8am," Mechai Viravaidya said. "I have learned that children's brains seem to be able to absorb things much better in the morning, so I make them skip the ceremony in the morning and go straight to class. 

ROOM TO MOVE: Students at Mechai Pattana School, or the ‘Bamboo School’, spend less time
in the classroom and more time learning practical ‘life skills’.

"It's not that I don't love my country. There is no law against it, so I make them perform the flag ceremony at 4pm instead.
" Mr Mechai is well known in Thailand for his pioneering work in family planning and safe sex campaigns. But few know of his groundbreaking work in another field — alternative education. 

The Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) last week released its annual Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015, sparking alarm among academics over Thailand's consistently poor education scores. The report ranked Thailand 90th in the world in terms of quality of primary education. That placed it behind Laos (84th) and Malaysia (17th), and only slightly ahead of Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar which ranked 91st, 113th and 137th respectively. 

Thai students spend, on average, longer hours in the classroom compared to those in neighbouring countries, yet achieve consistently worse academic results.

As academics are left trying to figure out what has gone so wrong with the Thai education system and how to fix it, some schools are already exploring new ways of teaching students, often taking the focus off rote learning and long hours in the classroom.

One of those is Mechai Pattana School, or the "Bamboo School", founded by Mr Mechai six years ago in the eastern province of Buri Ram.

Inquisitive learning: Mechai Pattana School's student council interviews applicants. The school has unusual policies, including giving students leadership roles and the right to assess teachers. 

OFF THE BUFFALO'S BACK 

As most schools push their students towards concepts of academic excellence, Mr Mechai said he couldn't care less about grade point averages or exam results. Instead, he is focused on teaching his students life skills so they are better able to contribute to their communities.

"I am choosing students who came right off the buffalo's back," Mr Mechai told Spectrum, saying the criteria for selecting students has nothing to do with family backgrounds like most other top schools Buri Ram is one of the country's worst achievers in education, ranking 74th out of the 77 provinces. "That is why it is the most perfect location to build this school," Mr Mechai said. Besides the family planning campaigns, and the Cabbages and Condoms restaurant chain, that he is famous for, Mr Mechai said he has always been interested in supporting education. He has provided scholarships in the past, but said this didn't fulfil his main intention.

Since he heard no reports back on how the scholarship money was spent, he had no idea whether he had made any real difference to a particular student. Feeling discontented, he came up with the idea to open his own school, fully funded by the Mechai Viravaidya Foundation and his various businesses.

First established in 2008, Mechai Pattana School was built to be a lifelong learning centre for students and a hub for socio-economic advancement. Instead of aiming for gold medals at the Academic Olympics, the school aims at producing a new generation of honest, capable and socially-conscious students, Mr Mechai said. Children are taught a mixture of the approved school curriculum and practical "life skills" such as farming techniques, how to market and sell their goods, and leadership roles within the community.

SEEDS OF KNOWLEDGE: Right, students at the Bamboo School are taught various methods of growing fruit and vegetables.

The school has also launched a new integrated rural development initiative to help government primary schools in poor areas become lifelong learning centres and hubs for social and economic progress in that area. The project is known as the School-Based Integrated Rural Development programme, or School-Bird.

Mechai Pattana School is aiming to be a hub for community development as it works toward re-engineering rural education.

"Why does everyone come to the big cities just to go to top schools and get a piece of paper so they can go to work in top companies as a robot?" Mr Mechai said. "Why can't they remain where they are and develop themselves as well as their communities and become leaders there?"

Mr Mechai believes he can make a difference in this small Buri Ram community by offering free education for everyone. The school began as a boarding school with only one grade in 2009, but has now evolved into a fully-fledged high school with 150 students from Matthayom 1 through 6.

BACK TO SCHOOL: Long known for his efforts promoting family planning, Mechai Viravaidya is also devoting
time to alternative education.