Also present to join the inspection were the Secretary General of Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) PhD Amporn Pinasa, Deputy Secretary-General Thanu Wongjinda, and other officials.
The delegation visited Ban Mai Khao, Tha Chatchai, Hongyok Bamrung, Ban Khor En, Ban Mak Prok, and Ban Laem Sai schools.
Mr Nataphol also chaired a meeting with Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew and other education related officers at the Royal Phuket City Hotel in order to hear the opinions of local officers about the readiness for educational institutional development.
Mr Nataphol pointed out that the three ways to develop small schools are either to combine them into one school, to approve more budget to develop the quality of the schools, or to develop a selected school to be the main quality school in each area.
He further explained that the quality of education is an important part in the development of the country and that every school needs to be developed to meet national standards in order to provide a good education for children.
“At this moment, I have to admit that we have not been able to give a good basic education for our youth,” Mr Nataphol said.
“We choose Phuket to be the pilot province for our development plans because there are a small number of schools under the OBEC in the island,” he added.
“We have to improve our curriculum quickly and as a priority in terms of both academic knowledge and working or living skills. The main problem with our education system is that we have taught them to remember but not necessarily to enable them to apply the knowledge.
“Developing all teachers and students to meet the same standard is quite challenging and not easy to do, so it is important I hear local officers’ opinions to adjust our plan.
“The COVID-19 crisis presents a good opportunity for us to develop our education system. To accomplish our plan it may take another 2-3 years after this,” he concluded.