Catholic schools as a model for development in Thailand
(Sept. 19, 2012) Thailand's Catholic schools make an essential contribution to the
development of a country, where education levels are still below average. Education
also falls within the development plans promoted by ASEAN, the ten-member Association
of Southeast Asian Nations, which Thailand wants to follow. Former Education Minister
Chinnaworn Boonyakiat said that Thai education has to prepare for the establishment
of an ASEAN community by 2015, as part of a strategy based on 'one vision, one identity
and one community' to develop "people, resources and the economy." He said “At a
time when values are in crisis, the Catholic model can help people and society grow.
Development cannot occur without education.” he added. A four-day seminar organised
by the Pastoral Education Council was recently held in Cholburi province on the topic.
Starting with a paper titled “Catholic schools in the context of the ASEAN community,”
Archbishop Louis Chamniern Santisukniran, president of the Bishops' Conference of
Thailand and 465 participants from the country's various Catholic schools discussed
ways to reform schools, so that they contribute to the country's and the ASEAN community's
development from a Christian perspective. The aims of Catholic schools are being
developed against a backdrop of a relatively backward educational system and low achievement
levels.