English skills drop again

THAILAND: The overall English proficiency across Thailand has fallen for the third year in a row, according to the annual English Proficiency Index.

Last year, Thailand scored 47.62, which was considered “very low” proficiency. Photo: Bangkok Post.

The 2020 index was drafted by global education company EF Education First.

The report showed Thailand’s ranking dropped from 74 out of 100 countries last year to 89 out of 100 this year.

Thailand’s English language proficiency scored 419 out of 800 under the company’s new point scale, which is considered “very low”. For comparison, the Netherlands scored 652, which is the highest out of all the countries surveyed this year.

Last year, Thailand scored 47.62, which was considered “very low” proficiency.

In 2018, Thailand ranked 64 out of 88 countries with a score of 48.54, a drop when compared with 2017, when the kingdom placed 53 out of 80 with a score of 49.7.

Thailand is currently ranked 7^th in Southeast Asia, behind Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia, respectively, and ahead of Myanmar. It ranks 20^th out of 24 countries in Asia.