Satit Bilingual School aims to be a model institute

Apiramon is the youngest daughter of Arthit Ourairat, rector of Rangsit University, a leading private higher-education institution in Thailand. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from George Washington University in the United States and a Master of Science in voluntary sector organisation from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She then earned a doctorate in educational administration at Rangsit University. 

“We need a good feeder of quality students into undergraduate study. My vision was to create a  [preparatory] school that is a role model for Thailand in determining the direction of the country’s education system,” Apiramon said. 

She said her school had been initiated with a unified bilingual curriculum, which would give graduates the ability to apply to universities all over the world. 

“Our curriculum is a good mix between the Thai curriculum of the Ministry of University Affairs and international curricula, namely the International Baccalaureate and International General Certificate of Secondary Education programmes, to offer high-school students an advanced college-preparation curriculum and an educational programme that is recognised worldwide.” 

She said the key benefit of bilingualism was that when children are “genuinely bilingual”, their brains become highly active and flexible, which leads to faster processing. They are better at ignoring distractions and are more adaptable as individuals. 

Her bilingual curriculum contains four key elements: process-based learning, interactive learning, ICT-based learning, and authentic assessment. It has been designed to exceed the limits of international curricula, which are more appropriate to children of local expatriates, who will eventually return to their home countries. 

She said the weakness of the Thai curriculum was its focus on rote learning, which is a memorisation technique based on repetition. The results are quite limited, as students cannot think or make holistic analysis by themselves. 

“Bilingualism is the best preparation for children to thrive in a fast-changing world. Beyond the ability to speak two languages, bilingualism increases their ability to reason, focus, and grasp complex problems, making it the ideal mindset to excel in an era of disruptive transformations,” Apiramon said. 

“Bilingualism also allows children to sift through information more quickly and effectively from the ability to code-switch. It better prepares them for a third and fourth language, and it heightens their awareness of other cultures.” 

It is envisaged that educational approaches developed at Satit Bilingual School of Rangsit University can one day serve the country as a whole. 

“The journey starts with your child, a holistic being equipped with bilingualism together with a wide range of skills from critical thinking skills and leadership to creativity along with technological fluency. Satit Bilingual School of Rangsit University is a strong preparatory school for not only university but also, more important, for life,” she said.

Satit Bilingual School was opened in 2005 at a cost of about Bt500 million. The first campus is on a 35-rai (5.6-hectare) plot close to Rangsit University. 

Providing educational programmes to children from pre-school to kindergarten and to Grade 6 (Mor 6), the school currently produces about 60 graduates annually.

The second campus was opened in Chiang Mai about a year ago.

“Chiang Mai has developed quickly into a cosmopolitan city with many expatriates from China and Europe. The province is quite ready to cater to new things including in the educational system,” Apiramon said.

She said she wanted to see the curriculum developed by her school allow students to take greater advantage of life and daily occupations. They will not only be good at learning skills and acquiring talents, but ready for any kind of change. They could stay anywhere in the world and enjoy life-long learning.