<p><em>Editor’s Note:&nbsp; Harrison George wishes to apologize for his temporary absence from this website.&nbsp; This was due to an illness of a medical nature and not, contrary to the scurrilous innuendos on various social media, of a psychological nature.&nbsp; Mr George’s psychiatric carers have assured Prachatai that his mental state is stable (as long as he keeps taking the meds), consistently unusual, and terminal.</em></p> <p>Oh boy!&nbsp; 3 articles about education on the same page of the Bangkok Post.&nbsp; Could educational reform finally be among us?</p>

<p>Thai education has been thrown into tumult by new regulations governing the siting of schools, colleges and universities.</p> <p>A ministerial order from the Prime Minister’s Office will ban any establishment from offering formal tertiary educational services within 300 metres from a military facility.&nbsp; But this order, based on the Critical Thinking Prohibition Act, has not yet been published in the Royal Gazette and enforcement will not start until 30 days after that.</p>

<p align="center"><strong>Examination on Civic Leadership and General Sense of Superiority</strong></p> <p><em>To be taken by Prime Ministers, Test Writers for Civic Duty classes, Administrators of Triam Udom Suksa School who are not psychiatrists but can still diagnose mental illness from test answers, and True Believers in True Thainess.</em></p>

<div>The brutal crackdown on a student led protest against the provisions of the new National Education Law was just the latest attempt by the government of Myanmar to keep control of the political reform process and the pre-election agenda that threatens to escape their iron grip. Students are protesting against the establishment of an Education Council which would control the curriculum without any consultation with or participation by students.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The response of the international community, and in particular the EU, has been extremely weak. </div>

<div>The Education Minister and the North Korean Ambassador to Thailand mutually agreed that the education systems of both countries are rather similar and plan to develop ties by educational exchanges.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.moe.go.th/websm/2014/nov/256.html">&nbsp;Office of the Minister Newsline</a>, Admiral Narong Pipatanasai, the Thai Education Minister, his Deputy Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, and Permanent Secretary Suthasri Wongsamarn met with Mun Song Mo, the Ambassador of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea on Friday at Government House. </div>

<div>12 Thai Values in comparison to youth values promoted by other Southeast Asian member states</div> <p></p>

<p>After a group of students launched a campaign against the coup makers’ controversial nationalistic 12 Thai Values, which have been imposed on the curriculum, the military has intimidated a Grade 11 student in a bid to stop her from challenging the regime. The Education Minister also thinks the students might be abnormal.</p> <p>The junta reportedly called the director of the school to ask about the student activist in order to pressure the school, while the student activist insisted on carrying on with her activities for academic freedom</p>

<div>Two months after the coup d’état in May, the Thai junta vowed to reform the Thai education system, which is one of the worst in the region. But instead of paying attention to structural problems, the junta’s policy for the Ministry of Education aims to focus on indefinable ‘merit’ and more nationalistic history classes. </div>

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<p>While critics and apologists alike sift through the pronunciamentos of Suthep Thaugsuban, founder, leader, ideologue and sole spokesperson of the Civil Movement for Democracy, in a desperate search for something that is both practical and constitutional, there is one demand of his that deserves study.</p>