Thailand was placed at the 55th ranking out of a total of 70 countries in the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) 2015 results, said Deputy Education Minister Dr Thirakiat Charoensetthasilpa on Wednesday.
He said he had informed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha about the PISA 2015 results of Thai students which was lower than the results in 2012 for all subjects. He added that the prime minister was disappointed with the results and urged the Education Ministry to speed up the implementation of the national education plan which aims to increase the PISA score by about 100 points in all subjects in 15 years.
Personally, Dr Thirakiat admitted he was disappointed with the performance of Thai students. The results, he said, reflected a huge gap of performance between students in elite schools and those in underprivileged schools.
He noted that the performance in science, reading and mathematics of students at certain schools such as Mahidol Wittthayanusorn and Chulabhorn Wittayalai is at the same level with schools in countries which were placed at higher rankings in PISA results.
But the PISA results show the collective performance of students of all schools and, hence, the results are a letdown, said the minister, adding that PISA results for math and science among Thai students remain high.
Singapore ranks the No 1 in PISA 2015 results, scoring 556, 535 and 564 for science, reading and math. Japan ranks the second with 538, 516 and 532. Thailand ranks the 55th place with 421, 409 and 415.
