The Kingdom of Thailand : Mr Jirat Jamsawang
The visionary teacher who pioneered using ICT and robotics innovation in education.
Having a great deal of passion toward the teaching profession since secondary school, Mr Jirat Jamsawang set his goal to become a teacher after graduation. Since 1980, he has been in the teaching profession for 36 years, 28 years of which at Suankularb Wittayalai Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi Province where he currently works as an expert level teacher in Career and Technology.
He is a teacher with a broad vision who has pioneered the ICT curriculum since 1985 to expand student’s horizons to access the vast knowledge outside of textbooks. He introduced robotics technology, which would play an important role in the future world, to be a part of today’s learning. It enabled students to develop innovations that won both national and international competitions.
Mr Jirat was initially trained as a Physical Education teacher. The transition from teaching physical education to ICT was the result of his study visit to Japan 32 years ago. Observing the widely use of ICT in everyday life, even by farmers, he was inspired to incorporate ICT into education in Thailand, to stimulate considerably more learning among students. Therefore, he turned towards a continuous development of ICT knowledge to open the world of learning to students.
Within the ICT arena, he has developed instructional media and a learning process called “Digital Lesson,” which utilize benefits of the internet research. He also created a Cyber Lecture software to record images from the computer screen as a learning multimedia. Moreover, he developed a Peer Coaching Program for teachers to organize learning activities in class. He also served as a trainer for in-service teachers, as well as the planner for school utility management, utilizing the solar cells to save energy of the school by two-folds.
Mr Jirat is a giver of opportunities who love and care for his students. He turned the attention of students at risks of dropping towards learning by employing robotics technology to help them practice learning, discipline, patience, and teamwork. He is a devoted teacher who constantly spends his time and personal resources to support students activities off-hours.
“What enabled me to be a teacher until this day was the King Bhumibol’s Scholarship, which was a scholarship without any bond requirements nor obligations. Yet it is the scholarship that inspires the recipients to realize the merit and kindness of our nation. One must repay such kindness unendingly. Therefore, I vowed to be a good teacher and a diligent teacher in learning more to bring new knowledge to support and improve student development in all aspects until my energy runs out.”
