Piles of prohibited items outside high school entrance exam draw online attention
AI In-Brief
Thailand News in Brief
Thai PBS World
Thailand and the world, every day
AI can make mistakes. Please double-check.
Piles of prohibited items outside high school entrance exam draw online attention
13 Sept 07:05Key points summarised by AI
Thousands of prohibited items, from pencil cases to banknotes, were left outside a high school entrance exam hall by nearly 14,000 students.
Images of these abandoned belongings quickly circulated online, sparking widespread reactions and trending on social media.
The strict regulations, enforced to prevent cheating, are standard for the highly competitive Triam Udom Suksa School, which recorded its highest applicant numbers in 18 years.
Organizers established a lost-and-found point to facilitate the return of collected items to their owners.
Thailand's Education Ministry is implementing a four-pronged strategy to address its students' below-average performance in PISA 2025 and tackle significant educational inequality.
The plan prioritizes closing performance gaps by increasing funding for small and low-income schools, overhauling the curriculum to foster critical thinking, and adopting a data-driven management system to reduce teacher workload.
Key initiatives include enhancing school safety, combating cyberbullying, and expanding mental health support through peer-to-peer networks, recognizing the severe impact of distress on academic performance.
An education expert advises verifying if PISA improvements stem from structural changes, advocating for a revived STEM curriculum with practical 'learn by doing' methods, and urging bureaucratic reform to link teacher evaluations to student development.