Thai Education Ministry Planning To Educate People About Asean, Cross-Border Mobility

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INTERVIEW

Education Ministry planning for AEC

By Chularat Saengpassa,

Wannapa Khaopa

Plan to educate people about Asean,cross-border mobility from 2015

Asean nations have pledged to become a single economic entity by 2015. But are Thais prepared to embrace the concept? The issue has many repercussions for the Education Ministry, which is the main agency in charge of developing human resources.

In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Education Ministry's deputy permanent secretary Sombat Suwanpitak reveals how his ministry plans to help Thais jump on the Asean bandwagon with the right attitude and necessary skills.

: People are the key to most endeavours including the plan to establish the Asean Economic Community (AEC). So, has the Education Ministry prepared Thais for the change?

We still have five more years to work on this. By the way, we have already started some work. The Asean Secretariat's five-year Work Plan on Education (WPE), which will be implemented between 2011 and 2015, and government policies are our guidelines.

The plan focuses on Asean awareness, access to quality education, cross-border mobility and internationalisation of education, plus support for other sectoral bodies whose programmes require education inputs.

The Education Ministry of Thailand has thus worked out the four following measures:

The first measure is the dissemination of knowledge and good attitudes about Asean among members of the public, especially ministry personnel, teachers and students.

The second measure is to increase the capabilities of Thai students, especially their English or skills in the languages of our neighbouring countries. Once the AEC materialises, job opportunities in the region will be very much open to all qualified Asean citizens.

The third measure concerns education-standard improvement and efforts to set one same standard to facilitate student mobility and credit transfer across the region.

The fourth measure is to adjust education regulations to support the liberalisation of educational services.

And the last measure is youth development, particularly their leadership, because the future of Asean is in their hands.

The Office of the Permanent Secretary is now drawing a strategic plan (2011-2015) for policymakers and relevant officials too. After the plan comes out next month, we will know how to revamp curricula for all levels. We are thinking about designing a course for general people too.

:What does the strategic plan include?

It will mainly address Asean education background and situations, direction of the Asean education review, Thai education and the essence of the ministry's plans for the AEC.

The strategic plan's working committee will be organising a forum later this month to listen to comments from various agencies. The plan will be then submitted to heads of key educational organisations under the Education Ministry for approval.

We expect to implement the plan next year and will start requesting budget for the purpose from the 2012 fiscal year onward.

: Has the ministry sought co-operation from other ministries or other agencies?

Of course, we cannot work alone. Cooperation is crucial. We work with Commerce, Social Development and Human Security, Culture and Labour Ministries as well as police to hold activities in preparation for the AEC.

:What does the ministry want to improve in terms of quality of students and educational institutions?

We have to upgrade 500 schools with top performances to meet world-class standards, while the quality of 2,500 other schools in districts will have to reach national standards. And 7,000 schools in tambons should be able to provide quality education to students in remote areas nationwide.

We have to strengthen teaching our students English and our neighbouring countries' languages. We have to initiate an Asean studies curriculum to make our students understand Asean more.

Thailand and the US are conducting a literature review to study each Asean country's moves to develop an Asean studies curriculum to prepare their citizens for the AEC. The International Institute for Trade and Development has proposed to study supply and demand of labour markets of all 10 Asean states - that information will be useful for our labour skills development.

: Among the 10 nations, Thailand was ranked eighth in terms of awareness about Asean, according to a survey two years ago. Do you think it will make Thailand inferior to other nations?

The survey used very difficult or specific questions like what each colour in the Asean symbol stands for. It was not easy for general people to know the answers back then. By the way, two years have passed since. I think Thais learnt more about Asean after the AEC issue was officially announced. More and more people are paying attention to Asean.

:What do you want the public to know about Asean?

Asean is not competition. Asean is not the enemy, but [it is] cooperation, caring, sharing and community - 10 nations, one identity. But we have to upgrade our education quality in the 10 countries to reach the same standard. We know the benchmarks of each country and know what areas we are inferior in or superior to them. So, Thailand has to be aware of and rise up to such a [regional] standard, to try to upgrade its education to reach an Asean standard.

-- The Nation 2010-12-13

[endure]

Thai Education Ministry Planning To Educate People (rather than indoctrinate them)...

That would be a good start.

[bushwacker]

Good Luck!!!!

[elshaheen]

What about the plan to do the plan about the plan which first came up when the dude started his appointment. Then the plan before that plan and so on.

Someone comes in and sees a pile of plans on Mr. Sombat Suwanpitak desk. Asks him. "Ok, which plan are we going to work on today or this week?" The red one, blue one, orange one, or the one under the Dunce cap.

[chainarong]

Dreamin again, all talk no substance , then maybe i could be wrong, hope so ,the general population can't see past the royal palace, let alone who Asean are.

[housepainter]

So we're at the end of 2010 and this Education programme has 5 years left to prepare for the start in 2015.

Well, that's the Thai maths. You see there are 4 years left in which to prepare not 5. It seems the Education Ministry, that fountain of all Thai knowledge can't subtract 11 from 15. That in my book makes 4.

Nice start then Education Ministry. Buttocks and elbows being the same in their opinion.

As if one such howler wern't enough it seems numbers really are a problem.

Proudly they go on to boast: "The Education Ministry of Thailand has thus worked out the four following measures....... remember that number 4. It then paragraphs four measure adding " And the last measure ...... "

Doesn't that make FIVE? The four measures are in fact five. But then why let facts get in the way?

We did when I was at school.

So there you have it ................. not so much the blind leading the blind as a one legged man learning to dance.

Who knows .............. it could happen.