The Philippines is the last country of Asia to complete the last two years (or senior high school) of

the world standard 12-year Basic Education Program. In year 2016, all Philippine secondary schools
should officially have Grade 11 and Grade 12 courses. My article last week focused on the well-
established school systems of Europe, whose stable economies are due to the provision of both
academic and technological high schools. Majority of European adolescent students prefer to attend
the latter to enter readily into the job market. In 1986 when I was a member of the UNESCO Paris
Executive Board, my colleague, former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, repeatedly
reminded me to let our then Minister of Foreign Affairs Salvador Doy Laurel work out the mutual
exchanges of college students with Australia. This was not possible since our high school graduates
were short of the senior high school requirements. Lets see how our Asian neighbors worked out
the full basic education for their youth.

Indonesias struggle to achieve quality education with 249.9M

population
The Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemdikbud) and the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag)
manage the educational system of Indonesia. The nine years of compulsory education consists of
six years in the elementary level and three in the secondary level. Islamic schools are under the
Ministry of Religious Affairs. During the Dutch colonization era, Sekolah Rakjat folk schools
encouraged by Theodore van Deventer in 1870 were provided for native Indonesians instead of
limiting it to Dutch nationals. This led to the establishment of the elementary school today. In 1973,
nearly 20% of youth were illiterate. Then President Suharto used oil revenues for the construction of
new primary schools and the repair of old ones. During the financial crisis of 1997-98, education
expenditures were cut back affecting the poorest families. But by 2002 World Bank noted that only
2% of young people between ages of 15 and 24 could not read, and by 2009 the literacy rate was
90.4%.

Indonesians are required to attend 12 years of school. Preschool is not obligatory, but it is needed
for preparation to primary schools. Most kindergartens however are privately operated. After 1998
the campaign to decentralize the national government, provincial and district-level administrators
obtained increasing autonomy to determine the content of schooling.

Rote Learning prevails inside public-school classrooms. Although the youngest children are
sometimes allowed to use their local language, by the third year of primary school, nearly all
instruction is conducted in Indonesian.

Children aged 6 to 11 attend primary school called Sekolah Dasar (SD), which are mostly
government-operated. This accounts for nearly 93% of all elementary schools in Indonesia followed
by three years of junior secondary school (Sekolah Menengah Pertama, or SMP). Then students
may attend senior secondary school (Sekolah Menengah Atas or SMA), where they may choose any
of 47 programs of vocational and pre-professional senior secondary schools (Sekolah Menengah
Kejuruan of SMK), covering the areas of technology and engineering, health, arts, craft and tourism,
information and communication and technologies, agro-business and agro-technology, business
management.

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Teacher training programs are gradually being upgraded. A student of the Teacher-training program
at the junior high-school level could obtain a teachers certificate. Since the 1970s however, primary
school teachers have been required to graduate from a senior high school for teachers, and
teachers for higher grades have been required to complete a university-level education course.
Teacher remuneration, although low, compares favorably with that of other Asian countries.
Thai education not influenced by colonial power
Through the Ministry of Education, Thailand provides free basic education of 12 years from
preschool to high school as guaranteed by the Constitution, and a minimum of nine years school
attendance is mandatory.

The school structure is divided into four stages: Prathom Gr. 1-3 is for age groups 6 to 8; Prathom
Gr. 4-6 is for age group 9 to 11; Matthayom H.S.1-3, is for age groups 12 to 14. Matthayom H.S. 4-6
for age groups 15 to 17 is divided into academic and vocational streams. Admission to an upper
secondary school is through an entrance exam called the NET (National Educational Test).

There are three types of schools: public schools, private sectors and fee paying non-profit schools,
which are often run by Catholic diocesan and religious orders that operate over 300 large
elementary/secondary schools. Due to budgetary limitations, rural schools are generally less
equipped than the schools in the cities. The standard of instruction, particularly for the English
language, is much lower, and many high school students will commute 60-80 kilometers to schools
in the nearest city.

HISTORY Formal education has its early origins in the temple schools, when it was available to
boys only. Unlike Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia and the
Philippines, which had all benefited from the influence of America and European countries with
centuries of educational tradition, Thailand has never been colonized by a Western power. As a
result, structured education was slow to evolve.

During the Sukhothai period (1238-1378), education was dispensed by the Royal Institution of
Instruction (Rajabundit) to members of the royal family and the nobility, while commoners were
taught by Buddhist monks. Through his reforms of the Buddhist Sangha, King Rama IV (1851-1865)
or King Mongkut, the legendary king who hired Dutch governess Anna Leonowens that inspired the
film The King and I accelerated the development of public education; during the reign of King
Rama IV (1851-1865), the printing press arrived in Thailand making books available in the Thai
language for the first time. English had the lingua franca of the Far East.

UNDER KING MONGKUTS SON, KING RAMA V (1868-1910) In 1871, with the proclamation of
the Command Declaration on Schooling, English was being taught in the palace for royalty and
nobles. Schools were set up outside the palace for the education of commoners children. In 1898, a
two-part education plan for Bangkok and for the provinces was launched with programs for
preschool, elementary and secondary, technical and higher education. The bloodless revolution in
1932 that transferred absolute power from the king to democratic government encouraged further
development and expansion of schools and tertiary institutions. The first National Education Scheme
was introduced formally granting access to education regardless of ability, gender and social
background.

In 1977, the 6-3-3 year system that is in use today for basic education started. Following the recent
military takeover of May 2014, Thai junta leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha bestowed
to the nation the Twelve Values: loyalty, gratitude, diligence and the preservation of Thai customs.
Uppermost is respect towards the King as Head of State, and is expressed by morality, democratic
values, obedience to the older citizens and self-sufficient economy.

Almost all villages have an elementary school, most sub-districts (tambon) have a school providing
education from age 6 to 14, and all districts (amphoe) have secondary schools of age 12 to 17.
Many have vocational colleges for students from age 15. In rural schools, absenteeism of both
students and teachers is high due to family and farming commitments.
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Currently, 412 colleges are governed by the Vocational Education
Commission (VEC). More than a million students are following the programs. In 2014, approximately
380,000 students were studying in 401 private vocational schools and colleges. Technical and
vocational education (TVE) begins at the senior high school grade, where students are divided into
either general or vocational education. In 1995, based primarily on the German model, Dual
Vocational Training the Department of Vocational Education launched the initiative to introduce dual
vocational training programs, which involve the students in hands-on training with suitability-selected
organizations in the private sector. Unlike regular internships, where students may be assigned to
work on unpaid irrelevant jobs, the cooperative education program enables the students of the
vocational schools to do field work while benefiting from an allowance to cover living expenses.

Classic Japanese education developed military class, Shogunate bureaucrats, and Samurai elite

Formal education in Japan began with the adoption of Chinese culture in the 6th century but never
fully took hold.

When the Kamakura period ended the Buddhist monasteries remained influential centers of learning.
During the Tokugawa Shogunate, the daimyo vied for the power in the largely pacified country.
Since their influence could not be raised through war, they competed on the economic field. Their
warrior-turned-bureaucrat Samurai elite had to be educated not only in military strategy and martial
arts, but also in agriculture and accounting. At the end of the Edo period, 50% of the male and 20%
of the female population possessed some degree of literacy. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868,
Western learning was adopted as a means to make Japan a strong, modern nation. Students and
even high-ranking government officials were sent abroad to study.

POST WORLD WAR II After the defeat in World War II, the Allied occupation government set an
education reform as one of its primary goals, to eradicate militarist teachings and democratize
Japan. The education system was rebuilt after the American model.

SECONDARY EDUCATION IN JAPAN The lower secondary school covers grades seven, eight
and nine, and children between the ages of roughly 12 and 15, with increased focus on academic
studies. Most junior high schools in the 1980s were public. Private schools were costly, averaging
558,592 yen ($3,989) per student in 1988, about four times more than the budget 130,828 yen
($934) per public school student.

Teachers often majored in the subjects they taught and more than 80% graduated from a four-year
college. Classes were large, with 38 students per class on average, and each was assigned a
homeroom teacher, who doubled as counselor. Instruction in junior high schools tended to rely on
the lecture method. All courses contents were specified in the Course of Study for Lower-Secondary
Schools.

From April 2011, English became a compulsory part of the elementary school curriculum. The junior
school curriculum covers academic subjects and all are exposed to industrial arts and homemaking.
Most students also participate in one of a range of school clubs that occupy them until around 6 p.m.
most weekdays as part of an effort to address juvenile delinquency.