Problems in Thailand’s education system
High student dropout rate; 124,611 students dropout each year (in high school, the dropout rates increase over 200%)
Low academic performance of students: the results of O-NET (national examination) in math and sciences fall significantly below national standards
Lack of quality and quantity in teachers (particularly in the subjects of Mathematics and Sciences, the number of which is 66,094 less than what Thailand needs)
Solutions
Improving Human ware by engaging and developing teachers’ skills through teaching training and implementation process
Advancing software by leveraging technology blended learning tools
Connecting software and human ware through digital and active in-class learning modules
Learn Thailand’s Investment Showcase
Learn Thailand（founded in 2011）
Investor: DBS Bank Ltd
Role of Investor: Lead Funder
Amount of Financing: $74,052
Type of Financing: Grant
Legal Registration Type: Social Enterprise / Business
Country: Thailand
Social Sector: Children and youths
Stage of Development: Pilot / Start-Up
(Source: https://avpn.asia/investmentshowcase/learn-education/)
Impact
https://www.dbs.com.sg/iwov-resources/forms/nus/learn-education.pdf
Comments and questions
Personally, I found the underlying problems of teacher shortage a structural one, which requires the government to give higher priority to education in their budget. We can see that the number of teachers has not been shown to increase after Learn Thailand was introduced and Thailand may continue to face a shortage in quantity even though the increase in quality may only have an indirect effect in the long run as improvement in quality increases teachers’ retention rate and encourages more people to become a teacher. A notable change in the teachers’ market may require a significant teacher pay rise, improvement in working conditions and educational/training programs. These changes can be time-consuming and costly. In terms of target audience, there are 5,000,000 students in Thailand while this venture has an anticipated impact of 200,000 by 2020, which is only approximately 5% of the total population of students.
Despite its limitations, I would still consider investing in this social venture. A social venture has the advantage of raising public awareness for the government to reform the education system and addressing broad social problems with potentially sustainable solutions. In this case, Learn Thailand brings us a powerful message for change.
The presenter has clearly identified some of the core problems in Thailand’s education system and he made a case for supporting Learn Thailand by addressing the pain point, solution, differentiation. With the statistics presented, he delivered a strong message that these problems need to be dealt with urgently. Since it was founded in 2011, Learn Thailand has proven to bring positive social impact to students of Thailand by decreasing students’ dropout rate and improving their academic performance.
As a social entrepreneur or philanthropist, I am convinced that Learn Thailand is for a good cause and has the potential to create more social impact to Thailand in the future. I think that it’s also quite effective to let a teacher share her experience by the end of the presentation. However, as an EVA, I would need some more information to consider investing in Learn Thailand. For social ventures like Learn Thailand to grow and self-sustain, they must first find ways to work with the private sector and business to make it profitable in order to expand its social impact further.
Suggestions
The presenter may want to provide more information in his pitch. By addressing some of the following concerns, he could make Learn Thailand is stronger case for EVA.
－Financial sustainability: The grant was $74,052, investors would be interested to know the break-down of the investment, such as: how much of the grant was spent on designing and building the software? Is it self-sustainable? How much is needed for maintenance? Will there be any return?
－Accessibility and marketing: How accessible is the software? Are teachers financed/supported? How much was spent on marketing to reach more people in Thailand?
－Impact: How does Learn Thailand help students coming from low income families?
－Scaling: If the only source of financing were a one time grant, could they make markets work in the long run?
－Competition: Who/what are the (potential) competitors? Any potential to help bring Learn Thailand to new geographic areas (scale out) and new levels of systems of institutions (scale up)?
References:
Learn Thailand. The Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN). Retrieved from
https://avpn.asia/investmentshowcase/learn-education/.