Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has urged the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) to organise elective classes during the school day, to develop students' analytical thinking and team work skills.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Sunday that Gen Prayut has recommended Obec organise various activities to inspire students to explore their passions outside of core subjects. Maj Gen Sansern said teachers will have to adjust their academic curriculum to ensure the elective courses do not take away too much time from the main subjects.
Students will not be allowed to skip the elective classes, and will have to join the activities from 2pm onwards. School will finish at the same time as usual -- around 4pm.
Obec last week announced a plan to cut class hours in a pilot project for 3,500 schools, out of 38,000 schools nationwide. The reduced hours will be replaced by activities such as cooking and learning folk wisdom, according to Obec secretary-general Kamol Rodklai.
The Obec will finalise its extracurricular plan for the pilot project by September. The pilot scheme will be analysed to draw up guidelines which can apply to all schools.
Many parents have objected to shorter school hours, as they are unable to pick up their children any earlier. However, this won't be an issue, as with the extra courses schools would still finish at 4pm, Mr Kamol said.
"I want to make it clear the end of the school day will remain unchanged at 4pm. Students won't be leaving schools before that because they have to join elective classes," he said.
Only students whose parents request an exemption from the activities can leave, Mr Kamol said, adding this will only be allowed if the students have part-time jobs or need to help their parents with housework.
"They must be registered by teachers ahead of time," he said. The Education Ministry aims to cut class hours from the current 1,200 per year to 840 to create time for extracurricular activities.