EDUCATIONAL DISPARITIES OF THAI CITIZENS WITH THE ONLINE LEARNING SITUATION IN THE VIRAL AGE COVID-19

Abstract

Abstract

This article aims to present the educational disparities among Thai student citizens and the online learning situation in the COVID-19 era by analyzing documents from various sources including articles, academic works, research, and statistics, including in-depth interviews of direct stakeholders. The results of the study showed that educational disparities were inequality of quality and standards of educational provision that students were exposed to the COVID-19 situation caused by economic conditions social and cultural background factors of the learners. It included the different quality and standards of different educational institutions and the educational level of the learners in each class. Therefore, in the period of adjusting to a new way of life with online instruction, economic and social disparities had a direct impact on learners who came from low-income families and no opportunity to access modern information technology. This also reduced the opportunity to create educational equality of children and youth in society and the whole region. The author had 3 suggestions for solving the problem of educational inequality among Thai citizens such as: 1. Focus on increasing the equality of opportunities for social promotion through structural reforms in five areas: tax system reform, land reform, welfare system reform, education system reform, and decentralization reform. 2. Enhance the quality of education in accordance with the social landscape by motivate the educational institutions to adjust their educational curriculum to localize. 3. Provide opportunities for people to actively participate in the development of educational models that are consistent with localities.