Thai minister warns of school term shift

BANGKOK, December 27 (TNA) – Thai Education Minister Woravat Auapinyakul has cautioned over a plan on school term shift to meet international schedules, as part of Thailand's preparations for the establishment of the ASEAN Single Community by 2015. In response to a recent resolution of the Council of University Presidents of Thailand (CUPT) to synchronize the country's academic terms with those of other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other nations worldwide, Woravat said that the CUPT should first sound out opinions from concerned parties and consider impacts of the summer and the rainy seasons which could heavily affect students in the country. According to the education minister, school terms have been set to suit weather conditions in Thailand, so have other countries in order to avoid classes in inconvenient circumstances. The minister warned that the change of school terms could have negative impacts, saying that he will discuss appropriate schedules of Thailand's school terms based on lessons learned from the recent massive flooding, during which school reopening for the new semester in several areas were delayed over a month. (TNA)