Creating a Ripple Effect in Thai Education: Stories of Impact & Progress

By Teach For Thailand

Teach For Thailand works to develop a network of leaders to achieve educational equity for all Thai children through a two-year fellowship program. They recruit and develop top Thai graduates and young professionals to work alongside schools and communities in high-needs areas, providing access to great education as well as to learn about educational inequity. After the two-year fellowship, they join an alumni network that works collectively to affect change which benefit all Thai children. Here’s an excerpt of an interview with three of their alumni.

“Everyone can change the education system.”

While this sentence presents an intriguing concept in theory, its practical implementation may not be as effortless as it suggests. Particularly when considering the experiences of individuals such as Sky, Fluke, and Phoom, who have spent two years working as school teachers.

Creating an impact on a larger scale may require more than individual effort. One impactful approach involves working at the policy level, where decisions and regulations have the power to influence the lives of people across the country.

Expanding Impact Through Policy to Achieve Dreams

For Sky, who works on proposing policies to drive the government, the driving force behind his policy-making career is his desire to expand the impact of his work. “When I was teaching in the school, the impact was limited only to the classroom, and I was not able to fully scale the impact. Even if I had a cool teaching method, it could not be scaled”.

Phoom joined the Equitable Education Fund (EEF) because he believed in investing in education. “I am an economist who has a passion for finance. “When I heard about the Fund, it immediately got my attention because I firmly believe in the significance of investing in education. I want to help educational organizations work more smoothly and effectively. I strive to ensure that when the Fund invests in various research projects, it invests in the right projects, yielding the desired results.”

Fluke, who is currently an education researcher at the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC), wants to work on problems that teachers cannot solve.

“In the role of a teacher, we can only solve problems at the micro level, helping only a few people, perhaps 100-200 people. However, policies have a broader impact, enabling thousands of students to pursue their education. The magnitude of the impact is greater, and it aligns with my area of expertise.”

Positive Discovery that Ignites the Path Forward

When asked about what impressed them regarding policy work, Fluke’s response may serve as a noteworthy reflection of the comprehensive nature of their work.

“What surprised me was the immediate implementation of orders from the policymakers, without the need for lengthy procedures. For example, when a school faced water shortage, upon receiving instructions from the policy level, the school had water supply restored promptly. I’m happy to see the impact of my work”

Sky shared an impressive discovery about the work environment.

“When I participated in academic activities and met diverse stakeholders in the Ministry of Education, I encountered numerous positive aspects and interesting practices. I met individuals with exceptional ideas with a clear focus on achieving tangible results, and diverse problem-solving approaches. These encounters made me let go of my ego and preconceptions.”

“For example, during a period, there were societal concerns about consolidating or closing small schools. However, upon delving into the policy process, I realized that the reason for consolidation or closure was due to the high cost of maintaining the schools, considering the limited benefits they provided. This eye-opening experience allowed me to adopt a more realistic way of thinking.”

Beginning With an Individual but With Government Support

When delving deeper into the idea that was popular in society at one point, which was ‘if we want to solve social problems, we need to start with ourselves,’ all three of them shared notable opinions:

Sky said that this idea is rational to some extent, but the government must also consider the public’s input. “I think this idea makes sense to some extent. Everything must begin with individuals, but it only becomes effective when everyone starts together. This is because policies rely on proposals, and the system itself is vital as it should allow public participation in policy development.”

Similarly, Phoom also shares a similar idea, which is focusing on starting with oneself and taking responsibility. “Starting with oneself is important as reflected in the saying ‘be the change you want to see’. It would be wonderful if everyone had agency and could determine their own course, but that is not the whole picture. Systemic factors certainly play a role. For example, if the system is flawed, it becomes an obstacle, hindering the adoption of better approaches or impeding meaningful change.”

In response to this question, Fluke expresses disagreement with the statement “if you want to solve social problems, start with yourself.” “I think that focusing only on the individual inhibits the ability to address the structure or dismantle it because people’s behaviors and thoughts depend on the structure itself. The truth is that change cannot be achieved by one person alone. It can only occur when many people come together.”

The Superpower of Those Striving for Education

When asked about what they were most proud of in their work, the faces of the three individualsFluke, Sky, and Phoom – immediately lit up.

Sky took a moment to reflect before answering, “What I am most proud about is developing proposals based on the real needs of people in the community and creating policies at the local level.” “For instance, in Rayong, there was an issue where schools were unaware of their student’s academic performance. We assisted them in developing tools to measure student performance. Although this tool may not have yielded immediate success, it provided a direction for future problem-solving.”

Fluke shared two sources of pride. Firstly, his involvement as a follow-up committee member for policies in the Bangkok education system. His work enabled more than 5,000-6,000 students to access the fund of EEF. Secondly, he organized a field trip to Bangkok from various provinces including Nan, Satun, Kalasin, and Sakon Nakhon. The field trip inspired these students to pursue their education at universities in Bangkok.”

As for Phoom, he spoke about his pride in developing international cooperation in his organization. “I initiated the cooperation between EEF and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, resulting in active teacher development. In addition, my contributions in communications and data preparation helped us gather valuable resources, including the ability to raise billions of baht in funding.”

‘Read more about the impact HERE’

These are just a few of the Alumni who are driving change with real aspirations.

Phoom (Phoom) Pentrakul is an analyst and coordinator of the teacher development project at the Education Equality Fund (EEF) and a Harvard Kennedy School candidate (Masters in Public Administration, class of 2025). He aims to expand his impact on a national level by working in collaboration with the government.

Thunhavich (Sky) Thitiratsakul is a researcher in Education Reform Policy at the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI). He is interested in policy-level change. This has led him to work as a researcher under the innovation area project.

Jirawut (Fluke) Jitjak is an Educator at the Basic Education Commission Office at the Ministry of Education. He has been appointed to move to the Bangkok Educational Office at Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). He is interested in promoting equal and quality education at the policy level.