However, these financial resources placed at the disposal of state schools will not automatically result in an improvement in the quality of education unless there is a system of educational quality assurance. The National Education Standards and Quality Assessment Office is introducing a system of internal and external quality assurance measures to make sure schools not only live up to standards but also continually improve. Education reforms, which have been implemented under the National Education Act over the past seven years, were a start-and-stop affair under the Thaksin administration. It failed to come up with coherent education reform programmes and five education ministers came and went during its five and a half years in power.

The Surayud government must make up for lost time by intensifying and speeding up the reform process during its remaining time in office.

In recent years, Thailand has fared poorly in most educational quality and competitiveness rankings compared to many countries in the region. The country trails behind Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and China, despite the fact that it spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product, 5 per cent, on education than these countries. That suggests that Thailand still has much room for improvement in terms of education management.

Education reforms in Thailand have already resulted in the extension of the compulsory number of years of education one must undertake to 12, as well as greater access to higher education, particularly in fields where there is still a shortage in manpower. At the same time, vocational education must also be promoted to ensure we have a qualified workforce as the country's manufacturing sector moves up the technological ladder. In qualitative terms, education reformers must redouble their efforts to bring about positive changes that will encourage and compel educational establishments to upgrade their management efficiency, improve curricula, provide better training to their teachers and introduce child-centred learning.

Other important aspects of education reform include the introduction of performance-based assessment, a significant increase in the salaries of teachers to keep them motivated, along with a general upgrade and investment in better quality teaching aids.

Decentralisation of education management must be implemented while people in local communities must be encouraged to participate fully in monitoring the performance of school administrators to ensure that available resources for education are used wisely, cost-effectively and transparently. The government must see to it that the National Education Act, which aims at the full development of the Thai people based on the concept of lifelong learning, is followed if Thailand hopes to move up the competitiveness ranking in the global economy.

One of the biggest problems of education reform in this country is that previous governments have managed to change the form, such as the institutional structures and the legal framework of education agencies, but failed miserably to change the substance, particularly the thinking and attitude of teachers. Teachers tend to stick to the old corruption-prone patronage system instead of a meritocracy, and often have an outdated mind-set that discourages adoption of innovative teaching methods. One big challenge for the government is to determine how best to push education reforms forward in tandem with the divestment of government power to local governments. The government must make clear that these parallel processes are irreversible and that teachers and local authorities must learn to work together as partners to improve education one local school at a time. Getting local schools to serve local people's needs and requirements is the ultimate yardstick to measure progress in education reform.