Published: 01/11/2016 at 01:00 AM

Writer:  JOHN DRAPER & PEERASIT KAMNUANSILPA

Newspaper section: News

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/opinion/30298829

Asia-Pacific is rapidly emerging as a global leader in mother-tonguebased multilingual education, embodied in a major international conference in Bangkok last month. Yet the conference was held in Bangkok because of geographic convenience, not because of progress on Thailand's draft National Language Policy (NLP). In fact, Thailand's failure to reform its education system has created a cultural underclass.
          In developing NLPs, a clear difference exists between Thailand and Asia-Pacific overall. Last week's conference, supported by UN agencies, intergovernmental organisations and academics, showcased the fact that Asia-Pacific is now home to some of the world's most comprehensive mother-tongue-based multilingual education policies. The Philippines is a regional leader, while Cambodia, with its new Multilingual Education National Action Plan, provides a detailed roadmap to educating ethnic minority children.Almost every Asean country now has a pluralistic NLP.
          Kim Gwang-jo, director of Unesco Bangkok, affirms linguistic pluralism is central to global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): ""Our ambitious universal education agenda is rooted in SDG 4, which calls on all countries to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all."" Kim stressed that multilingual education systems are more relevant and responsive to cultural and linguistic diversity, facilitating inclusion, equality of educational attainment, and lifelong learning for all.
          At the conference, all considered the legacy of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Multilingual himself, His Majesty naturally endorsed Thai as the national language. Yet, he also suggested a pluralistic approach to identity and a commitment to equality of opportunity, adopted in the People's Constitution of 1997 and present in every subsequent constitution.
          Specifically, during His Majesty's Royal address on February 22, 2001, he noted that the Thai nation ""comprises people from various parts of the country. They differ in thoughts and ways of life.Their home topographies are different.So are their standings. . One of the problems that the government will face concerns the people who have long been living in our country but are not yet considered Thai. . They were born in Thailand. They have been living in Thailand. But they haven't received the benefits of being Thai citizens. This matter must be handled without discrimination.""
          Unfortunately, in the Thai education system, entire ethnolinguistic communities suffer from systematic discrimination thanks to a benchmark set according to Central Thai socio-cultural standards. In every subject on the national O-NET test, the children of the Thai Malay in the deep South, of the Thai Lao and Northern Khmer in the Northeast and East, and of the mountain peoples in the North and West, all score below the mean. Shockingly, due to developmental disparity causing poverty and malnutrition, the IQ of these children is being harmed. This structural discrimination against the children of Thailand's ethnolinguistic minorities is the greatest failing not just of the country's education system but of the Thai nation-state. It has created increasingly visible ethnic injustice and socio-political cleavages at elections.
          The need for a ""strong"" Thai NLP, one enshrined in an act of parliament, is recognised within the Education Ministry. In opening the conference,Deputy Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin stressed that language was a ""tool to access culture, probably the greatest tool that human beings have to make good progress in education"". He stated that Thais should be proud of the country's cultural and linguistic diversity. The ministry, he pledged, was committed to maintaining cultural diversity, strengthening education, and upholding the human and educational rights of ethnic minority children. He declared the ministry supported Thailand's proposed NLP, guided by the Office of the Royal Society.
          Yet, this is the same rhetoric repeated at the same conference every year,regarding an NLP dating back to 2006 which has been mired in committee since 2011. In contrast, Myanmar is likely to establish a progressive national language policy, for peace-building, within two years of a democratic government. The deputy minister's speech disregards the urgency of the situation and the link between educational exclusion and poverty, as well as the radicalisation of youth in the deep South.
          This impasse is not because Thailand lacks the expertise. Both Kim and Teerakiat highlighted a Thailand-based programme that was recently celebrated at Unesco headquarters. The Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia at Mahidol University was awarded the Unesco King Sejong Literacy Prize for its Patani Malay-Thai Bi/Multilingual Education Project. The programme, supported by Unicef and the Thailand Research Fund, aims to boost the academic performance of students in the deep South, where most learners speak Patani-Malay. The successful approach was lauded for its ""success in sustaining the performance of Malay-speaking students in the primary schools of southern Thailand"". Yet the military permits the initiative to operate in only two-dozen small schools.
          Ultimately, socio-economic opportunity is the constitutional birthright of every Thai and a fundamental plank in the social contract. It is most affected by level of education. As Thomas Davin,Unicef Country Representative, observes:""Research is clear that children learn best when they have the opportunity to study in their mother tongue in the early grades of primary, and that this strong learning foundation provides children with the skills to master other languages and subject areas. A National Language Policy which acknowledges this evidence and which promotes mother-tongue and multilingual education for millions of children who do not speak Thai as their first language will enhance the quality of education and learning outcomes in Thailand.""
          At the conference, Unesco director Kim paid tribute to the King. He highlighted His Majesty's efforts in improving the lives of ethnolinguistic minorities living in some of the most remote reaches of Thailand, a reference to the Rom Klao and Chao Pho Luang Upatham Schools: ""In addition to his tireless development work, His Majesty was also a passionate advocate for education and his ceaseless pursuit of knowledge exemplified the spirit of lifelong learning,"" Kim said. ""His legacy is an inspiration - let us carry it forward."" Millions of Thai children now depend on the Prayut administration to realise this legacy.
          JOHN DRAPER, of the Project for a Social Democracy, is director of the Social Survey Centre at the Isan Culture Maintenance and Revitalisation Programme, College of Local Administration, Khon Kaen University.PEERASIT KAMNUANSILPA, PhD, is founder and former dean of the college.