Compliance with SCG’s Philosophy; Belief In the Value of the Individual and Concern on Social Responsibility. SCG joined the Pracharat Project: E5 Group (Human Capital Development) and as one of the 12 leading private companies, established CONNEXT ED to jointly set up School Partner Program to help E5 Group transform education, mainly focusing on municipal primary and secondary schools. In the first year, 3,342 out of over 7,000 schools across the country have applied to participate in the project.

As CONNEXT ED, the 12 private companies have formulated the model, drawn up plans, executed the project, as well as selected the Company’s representatives called “School Partners”, in correspondence with the project’s strategies. SCG has initiated SCG School Partner Project, which sets out to select qualified volunteers within the Companies to work with school principals to share ideas and experience in learning process and to formulate plans in accordance with the strategies of the Pracharat School Project in order to promote and create an action-based learning process that fosters talented and virtuous youths. Currently, SCG has chosen 69 school partners from Chemicals, Cement-Building Material and Packaging Business, tasked with working with a total of 40 selected schools near plants, for example in Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Chonburi, Chantaburi Saraburi, Lampang, and Nakhon Si Thammarat. As the project’s director, Mr. Thirawat Deesomboon, ‎Organization Development and Sustainment Office Leader, at SCG Chemicals, remarks on the expectations and benefits of the project as follows.

        “For me, the main objectives of School Partner Project are to facilitate school principles to lead education transformation in own school. Help support creating action-based learning processes in a school by sharing experience what we have been doing in private companies. Enhance “Facilitative Skill” to those teachers that promote students more inquisitiveness, work as a team and, most importantly, allow students to earn hands-on experience through real practice both in class and outside class via Project-based learning that linked to education subject areas. What I think students will gain directly from this initiative is that knowledge, thinking, and working process that increase their own proficiency and integrity.  Their learning experience will help them grow and develop themselves which will benefit to our nation, for sure. Another important aspect is that this program need involvement or participation of parents and communities. Therefore, the success of this project will hinge upon what is called the Whole School Approach.”

           School partners assume the role of Facilitator with school executives to get idea and formulate their plans in each school to transform school education in accordance with the strategies of the Pracharat School Project, with emphasis on developing “action-based learning” projects. To make plan success, the school partners need to visit schools, meet parents and communities to understand the situation in those community areas.  School partners have all said that they are glad to have made contributions to the basic education system of the country and it is their pleasure to share their knowledge and experience from their line of work and exchange ideas with school directors and teachers. Although school partner have key challenges on their own routine jobs, they effectively manage to ensure fulfilling both their responsibility as full-time employees and their commitment to be the school partner that they are entrusted.

           Since the SCG School Partner Project was initiated mid-2016, each school has already presented their action plans of the action-based learning projects with the budget support from SCG for implementation. Prior to this phase, SCG organized training sessions and seminars for directors and representatives from all the 40 schools and the school partners, in collaboration with the Sufficiency School Center of the Foundation of Virtuous Youth and SCG Foundation. These seminars set out to foster an understanding among school executives, teachers, and school partners of what action based learning processes for students, what are the key skills for those teaches to be used and how can sustain this learning process in schools.

Remarks of school partners

           In his final remark, Thirawat Deesomboon highlighted his confidence in the upcoming success of the project.

           “One of SCG’s philosophy is Belief In the Value of the Individual, SCG believes that employees are the most valuable assets so we have continuously groom and develop our people with competence, cardinal virtues and integrity. This project goes hand in hand with our goals because developing talented and virtuous individuals starts with youths. In addition to SCG, 11 other companies have taken part in developing the Pracharat School Project, which will strengthen municipal schools across the country by creating necessary action-based learning processes for students that increase their capability to deal with rapid changing environment in the future. This project will be continued to make these learning processes sustainable.”

Remarks of school representatives participating in the Pracharat School Project with SCG

Praphan Poomchan

Director of Wat Tha Takraw School, Kanchanaburi

 

           “Our school is lucky to have been assigned school partners who is truly determined and invested in developing our school with us. He’s made visits to study the context of our school. Right from the project proposal drafting, we worked closely and thought that we should have focus groups composed students and their parents to identify their true needs. The school partner has given us tremendous guidance and been an excellent consultant. It is a wonderful thing to see the private sector recognize the significance of national education.”

 

Rungtawee Panrana

Director of Ban Nong Sue Chang School (Charoongpattana), Chonburi

 

           “We’re so glad that we have got seven school partners. Working as a team, they help each other think, make suggestions, and complement each other’s ideas. I believe SCG’s initiative is beneficial because if we were to work on our own, we would be working in our same old framework. However, with SCG lending a hand, we have received new ideas and formed new alliances. It is beyond our wildest dreams that this would grow to the scale it is today.”

 

Somchai Sengdongmas

Director of Wat Tum Tao School, Saraburi

 

           “I think our school is so fortunate to have got a school partner from SCG who understands the education system. He has collaborated with us and given us suggestions and support. Most importantly, he has given the school and the communities full cooperation with education management. We have also been exposed to management principles used in the private sector through a comparison of factors such as organizational cultures, human resources, and work processes, which are vastly difference. Therefore, we have applied these principles to our school and given our communities more opportunities to participate in education management.”

Remarks of school partners

Sittisak Charoenhiran, SCG Chemicals

 

           “I was so glad when I was given the opportunity because I believed that the knowledge I had amassed from my working life for over 30 years should be able to contribute to the development of national education. The projects that these schools would undertake had to create sustainability and yield concrete benefits for students. In my opinion, the School Partner Project is definitely beneficial for students because it allows them to think and do for themselves. This way, they will earn experience that they can one day build on towards their other areas of interest. This leads to lifelong learning.”

 

Kollayuth Wothong, SCG Packaging

 

           “We need to learn how to listen, capture main ideas, and observe so as not to influence teachers. We hope to encourage them to think for themselves. Most importantly, the students will get to familiarize with new learning approaches that expect them to be able to search for knowledge in their areas of interest by themselves and to put it to practice to learn empirically. This will also elevate our national education.”

 

Prapan Pouthong, SCG Cement-Building Materials

 

           “School partners play a great role in communicating the project and the policies that will be implemented to schools. Although I think that the School Partner Project will benefit every party, our focus is on students. At the same time, the parents are also participating, and the teachers are enjoying the new education management model. Every sector in society is pitching in, and it is our nation that will reap benefits from this solidarity.”