Photos courtesy of Bangkok Post
Educational authorities are promoting the dual-education syllabus which provides vocational students with both academic knowledge and work experience.
Read the following story from the Bangkok Post to learn more about the study programme.
Education Minister Dapong Ratanasuwan on September 25 instructed the Office of the Vocational Education Commission (OVEC) to improve its dual-education system to boost the number of students enrolled in the programme to meet rising demand in the labour market.
DOUBLE EXPERIENCE
The dual-education system is a collaboration between large private firms and vocational schools, allowing students to have first-hand work experience. Students enrolling in the dual-education programme graduate with both academic and vocational qualifications.
Dapong said he was satisfied with the results of the dual-education system as it has boosted the number of vocational students this year.
However, the number of students enrolled in each field should be aimed specifically to meet market demand in each sector.
NO CHOICE
"The programme now allows students to choose their own field of studies; therefore, the number of graduates in some fields will not meet market demand," Dapong said.
The minister has instructed OVEC to focus more on auto mechanics and hospitality training programmes, since these graduates have been in high demand in the country's labour market.
Moreover, OVEC should increase the number of entrepreneurs joining the courses and extend collaboration to small-sized and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
NEXT TARGET
Chaipreuk Sereerak, OVEC's secretary-general, said the commission has set a target to increase the number of students from 80,000 to 103,000 next term.
Chaipreuk said OVEC also plans to shift the vocational to general education ratio from 39:61 currently to 42:58 by 2016. More than 300,000 students are expected to enrol in vocational schools in the next academic year.
The priority of OVEC is to increase the number of students enrolled in the programme, he said. OVEC has also been instructed to set up an intensive English course for vocational students to boost their language proficiency.
FATAL FIGHTING
In addition, Dapong also told OVEC to find ways to stop violence among vocational college students, even though the number of student brawls has steadily declined since 2013.
"There were only 49 cases so far this year, resulting in two student deaths," he said.
The secretary-general said OVEC plans to cooperate closely with police next term to monitor social media sites which students often use to organise brawls.
Exercises
Read the story and decide whether the following statements are true or false.
1. OVEC stands for the Office of the Vocational and Edutainment Commission.
……………….
2. Chaipreuk Sereerak is Minister of Education.
……………….
3. The dual-education system is a collaboration between large private companies and vocational institutions.
……………….
4. The dual-education syllabus provides only vocational classes and academic lessons without job training.
……………….
Vocabulary
- vocational (adj): connected with the skills or knowledge needed to do a particular job
mechanics (n): the practical study of machinery
intensive (adj): involving a lot of work or activity done in a short time
brawl (n): a noisy and violent fight involving a group of people, usually in a public place
