Massive job loss seen if Thailand doesn’t upgrade education – EEC advisor

[Rimmer]

Massive job loss seen if Thailand doesn’t upgrade education – EEC advisor

PATTAYA:--Thailand will gain about 30,000 short-term jobs as the government’s Eastern Economic Corridor project ramps up, but will lose hundreds of thousands of jobs long-term unless the country improves its education system, an EEC board meeting was told.

 

Advisor to the EEC Secretary’s Office Apichart Thongyu told vocational school educators and officials from Chonburi, Rayong, Chachoengsao and Trat, at the Aug. 4 meeting at the Myatt Beach Hotel in Pattaya that 400,000 people already are unemployed because they lack the skills to get jobs in high-tech industries.

 

That will only increase unless Thailand radically reforms its education system to train people for tomorrow’s jobs that are the focus of the EEC project.

 

Discussing the short-, medium- and long-term effects of EEC development, Apichart said the Eastern region stands to gain 30,000 jobs, but all of them will be in low-skill laborer positions building the required road, rail and air transportation projects called for.

 

Once those logistics projects are complete the employment focus shifts to high-tech industries targeted by the EEC and the government’s Thailand 4.0 initiative such as electronics and telecommunication equipment, eco-friendly petrochemicals, digital-based industries, robotics, automation, aerospace and medical devices.

 

Read more: http://www.pattayamail.com/news/massive-job-loss-seen-thailand-doesnt-upgrade-education-eec-advisor-218644

 

-- © Copyright Pattaya Mail 2018-08-10

[PatOngo]

32 minutes ago, Rimmer said:

upgrade education

What next?...…..people thinking independently???

[Esso49]

Mustn't do that as the militarily supported Elite may have to adapt to competition rather than state sponsored monopolistic family owned companies to build their respective wealth even further.  What next ? allowing foreign companies to operate on a level playing field without paying massive kick backs ?  No not never

Edited August 10, 2018 by Esso49

[trainman34014]

More pissing in the wind !

[Justgrazing]

1 hour ago, Rimmer said:

Thailand 4.0 initiative such as electronics and telecommunication equipment, eco-friendly petrochemicals, digital-based industries, robotics, automation, aerospace and medical devices.

Prototype robot was good at Usain Bolt poses .. But a bit more work was needed to get it to do anymore ..

[Emster23]

EEC secretary must have had education abroad, one might guess

[fxe1200]

Prtivate schools are also to blame. You can have studied at Havard or the M.I.T., you might have worked in the U.S. or GB for years, but when you are not a native speaker the South African or the student from Wales will get the job.

[Assurancetourix]

1 hour ago, trainman34014 said:

More pissing in the wind !

Or against the wind ....

[happy chappie]

Lets face it Thailand is the armpit of the EEC.they can't even sort a government out and when they do it seems to be the biggest thief going .as for education,your having a laugh.the Chinese will sort thailand out like they have done with many countries in Africa.they will rape Thailand of anything they need to expand their empire and the Thais will have no chance as the Chinese love to deal with corrupt countries.

[Justgrazing]

Boeing , Lockheed , NASA et-al can all chill out for the foreseeable future .. 

[Srikcir]

3 hours ago, Rimmer said:

the Eastern region stands to gain 30,000 jobs, but all of them will be in low-skill laborer positions building the required road, rail and air transportation projects called for.

Actually the jobs are for technical and vocational workers, not "low-skilled laborer positions." Japanese investors in the EEC expressed their concern about the inadequacy of a sufficiently SKILLED workforce. (May 31, 2018)

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1040628-eec-needs-additional-30000-workers/?utm_source=newsletter-20180531-0646&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

You can be sure that the airplane manufacturer Airbus will NOT be searching for low-skill laborer positions for its  aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centre in the EEC.

Alexandre Dupont, president of the Franco-Thai Chamber of Commerce said of the EEC, and perhaps in reference to a French company that plans to build a factory to manufacture aircraft parts in the EEC, that a key challenge for Thailand is increasing its pool of qualified workers.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/business/30347318    

Meanwhile Prayut is already taking credit for success of the EEC in adding to Thailand's economic growth. "Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said yesterday that the government expected that the economy would boom and extreme poverty “be eradicated” this year, despite signs of a deteriorating economy, including mass layoffs in several sectors." (Jan. 2, 2018)

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30335185

[Henrik Andersen]

it don't help to improve education system if Thai people don't have the brain to get higher level of skills 

[Redline]

FYI it’s too late.  The future is set for failure.  Thai people generally don’t go back to school.  As I have read before, even after the education system is fixed, and that means through university as well, it takes nearly a generation to see results.

Will Thailand open up to foreign workers?  I think they will, but unfortunately I believe it will be primarily Chinese, and this will seal the fate of the country.  It sure could be a great place, as I was speaking to my wife about the other day, but there is no will, and the fear of westerners and their democratic ideals, don’t sit well with the country’s owners.  We see what Chinese influences have had on Cambodia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka....

[NCC1701A]

" unless Thailand radically reforms its education system to train people for tomorrow’s jobs..."

 

"I learn to use Thailand 4.0 massage booking app. customers can select two girl option. have more customers now."

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

Look for the government to committee it to death. 15 to 20 years from now, Thailand will have done nothing to bury the medieval educational system. Meanwhile, a couple of borders away, industrial land is getting scarce as Vietnam records double digit GDP and export growth. Goodbye Thailand. 

[Cake Monster]

The Mainstream Education system is not the only system that needs a radical overhaul in order to drag Thailand into the 21st Century.

Sure, the Schools and Vocational Colleges, along with the Universities have to really up there game, but also so do the vast majority of Companies, who are running profit only operations with little or no staff training

[Happyman58]

They have to revamp school education from year 1 to university. Actually, make the students try and think for themselves and solve problems by themselves. Try and give the students a goal to achieve and universities set a higher standed of entry. At the moment the standed set by universities for entry anybody who has money can get in. No need to get good marks at school I would love to know how many students who went to university in Thailand have got a job after receiving their degrees in their chosen field of study. I know I have met a few who have gone to university, some work in 7 eleven, pro hardware, bars. Did not know you needed a degree to get a job in these jobs.

Actually, there is a role model for the Thai people to aspire to. The PM He joined the Thai army as a Pvt and got to the top and toppled the government and helped himself to a tidy sum of money and now a millionaire many times over, Could be Thailands answer to the education problem encourage more people to join the army instead of going to university

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, Happyman58 said:

They have to revamp school education from year 1 to university. Actually, make the students try and think for themselves and solve problems by themselves.

I disagree,

I think Thailands feudal elite have the Thai education system exactly as they want it, training a nation of serfs to obey and love those in power. Getting students to think for themselves leads to civil unrest and maybe even revolution. 

This is also part of the reason the government loves Chinese tourists and want white foreigners to keep away.

Edited August 10, 2018 by BritManToo

[overherebc]

One of the biggest problems with the future is that it isn't now.

How can you react to something that hasn't happened yet?

??

 

[Justgrazing]

The first sex robot was good for a head .. So long as you didn't look ..  

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, Srikcir said:

Actually the jobs are for technical and vocational workers, not "low-skilled laborer positions." Japanese investors in the EEC expressed their concern about the inadequacy of a sufficiently SKILLED workforce. (May 31, 2018)

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1040628-eec-needs-additional-30000-workers/?utm_source=newsletter-20180531-0646&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

You can be sure that the airplane manufacturer Airbus will NOT be searching for low-skill laborer positions for its  aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centre in the EEC.

Alexandre Dupont, president of the Franco-Thai Chamber of Commerce said of the EEC, and perhaps in reference to a French company that plans to build a factory to manufacture aircraft parts in the EEC, that a key challenge for Thailand is increasing its pool of qualified workers.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/business/30347318    

 

Meanwhile Prayut is already taking credit for success of the EEC in adding to Thailand's economic growth. "Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said yesterday that the government expected that the economy would boom and extreme poverty “be eradicated” this year, despite signs of a deteriorating economy, including mass layoffs in several sectors." (Jan. 2, 2018)

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30335185

 But it's not only vocational and technical workers.

 

I'm aware of a large successful Singapore corporation exploring the possibility of opening a large operation of their company here. 

 

Before starting land acquisition, designing buildings, buying equipment etc., etc., they explored employee capabilities, including interviewing about 20 potential employees for different departments, mid-level managers positions and lower. They were already aware of low levels of English so they constructed some relevant questions which were asked by Thais from an agency whilst the s.pore folks listened to a continuous translation.

 

S.pore folks were shocked at the lack of knowledge and the lack of even simple conversation / discussion skills, zero enthusiasm, playing with smartphone during the interviews, and more.

 

They explored bringing staff from S.pore and Malaysia, but not possible to get approval from the labour ministry and way too expensive.

 

Project cancelled. 

 

All comes back to the failed Thai education system. 

 

 

[Happyman58]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I disagree,

I think Thailands feudal elite have the Thai education system exactly as they want it, training a nation of serfs to obey and love those in power. Getting students to think for themselves leads to civil unrest and maybe even revolution. 

This is also part of the reason the government loves Chinese tourists and want white foreigners to keep away.

Yes, that is true also. Keep your people at a standard and obey and life is easy. Good example In World War 1 not many people in England were educated. In fact, to become an officer in the English Army you had to have money, titles, university education but no clue about warfare Then have non-educated men do exactly what you wanted and cause heavy loss of life. eg General Haig( Head Commander British Army got this theory that if you bombarded the enemy for a long period of time it would cut the barbed wire around trenches and the Germans would be so shellshocked and come out and surrender. So at the battle of the Somme for 5 days and nights the English bombarded the German trenches  1 million artillery shells were fired  Huge The English soldier was told the wire was cut  and they should just get out of the trenches and the Germans will be waiting with their hands up to surrender, In fact, many English believed that so much that theory that they did not even load their guns . Some were even playing football as they went across no man's land. Oh, the Germans came out alright but not to surrender but to man the machine guns 60,000 English soldiers died that day. That is how you can control the lower classes and made you do there bidding, That is what standard Thailand would have now otherwise this government would not be in power

[bluesofa]

1 hour ago, NCC1701A said:

" unless Thailand radically reforms its education system to train people for tomorrow’s jobs..."

 

"I learn to use Thailand 4.0 massage booking app. customers can select two girl option. have more customers now."

That's what you'd call a happy, happy ending.

 

[bluesofa]

4 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

Prototype robot was good at Usain Bolt poses .. But a bit more work was needed to get it to do anymore ..

That robot's unlikely to bolt anywhere, it seems short of a couple of nuts, preventing it screwing together properly.

 

[scorecard]

33 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I disagree,

I think Thailands feudal elite have the Thai education system exactly as they want it, training a nation of serfs to obey and love those in power. Getting students to think for themselves leads to civil unrest and maybe even revolution. 

This is also part of the reason the government loves Chinese tourists and want white foreigners to keep away.

 

To some extent true, however there's other factors, the permanent head and senior position folks at the top of the Ed. ministry are fearsome and stubborn and nobody would dare to suggest even small changes. They totally refuse to accept there's a problem, totally refuse to listen to any suggestions or orders from past prime ministers / ministers /community groups etc.

 

I've watched for well over 3 decades; new government, new Ed. Minister, big statements about change - nothing has changed, nothing  

 

Even Thaksin couldn't budge the folks at the top, he appointed himself to the Ed. Minister position with big words about change. He quietly withdrew after 6 months and new minister quietly took over. Not trying to criticize Thaksin, just emphasis of the arrogance and stubbornness of the top folks in the ministry.

 

A long way to go and whilst I'm not a strong supporter of the current overriding powers of the PM I wonder if that might be the best way to force change. Change in education for Thailand cannot wait any longer. 

 

 

[AsiaHand]

Most outsiders can see that the education system in los is set up to drain money from the people with their education an after thought.

[trainman34014]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

 But it's not only vocational and technical workers.

 

I'm aware of a large successful Singapore corporation exploring the possibility of opening a large operation of their company here. 

 

Before starting land acquisition, designing buildings, buying equipment etc., etc., they explored employee capabilities, including interviewing about 20 potential employees for different departments, mid-level managers positions and lower. They were already aware of low levels of English so they constructed some relevant questions which were asked by Thais from an agency whilst the s.pore folks listened to a continuous translation.

 

S.pore folks were shocked at the lack of knowledge and the lack of even simple conversation / discussion skills, zero enthusiasm, playing with smartphone during the interviews, and more.

 

They explored bringing staff from S.pore and Malaysia, but not possible to get approval from the labour ministry and way too expensive.

 

Project cancelled. 

 

All comes back to the failed Thai education system. 

 

 

Errrr; i would say your last sentence should read.....All comes back to the 'Engineered' Thai education system !

[stud858]

It seems to be what it be and it will be that way for way past our lives.

 

Rather than wait for others to educate I've just dumbed myself down.  Problem solved. 

 

 

[Cadbury]

Thailand is becoming a lost cause. Fixing it is becoming impossible.

[tryasimight]

7 hours ago, fxe1200 said:

Prtivate schools are also to blame. You can have studied at Havard or the M.I.T., you might have worked in the U.S. or GB for years, but when you are not a native speaker the South African or the student from Wales will get the job.

Native Thai speaker I assume?