Delayed development among Thai children remains a threat for Thailand, an official says



BANGKOK, 13 January 2015 (NNT) - Dr. Somsak Chunharas, Deputy Minister of Public Health has expressed his concern over a delayed development of Thai children even though the problems encountering child development in the country have been existed for over forty years.

His concern was made while he was presiding over the 12th Asian Congress of Health Promotion today held by the Department of Mental Health at a hotel in Bangkok. The conference was held under the theme “Our Children Our Future” with participation of public health experts from China, Japan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Taiwan and Thailand.

He explained that the change in contemporary society causes a wide range of problems which directly affect child growth. Many countries have put high efforts to help all babies grow up with age-appropriate development in physical and mental health in the hope to produce high-quality human resource in the future.

In Thailand, main threat to child health is the delay in physical, mental and ethical development which currently affects around thirty per cent of children, Dr. Somsak said.

He revealed that Thailand has developed approaches to stimulate and follow up the development in three groups of children. Firstly, newborn babies until the age of three should be raised by parents who are required to pass the parental training to ensure they are able to observe babies’ development.

The second group is children aged three to five who are supposed to attend nursery schools. Development will therefore be focused on the quality of nurseries.

Teenagers who form the third group will be taught and instilled with positive attitudes in order to control the violence and drug use among them.


-- NNT 2015-01-13

"Teenagers who form the third group will be taught and instilled with positive attitudes in order to control the violence and drug use among them."

Don't know about physical but mental and ethical I can see that they are doing all right at the moment.

Reading all the articles about school gangs consisting of little cowards, attacking everything and anything on their way.

They need proper education and not the shambles of schooling they are attending now.

Not to worry, now that they will have the 12 core values installed in to their brain they will succeed in being Thai. What else could one want for their children.

Well, you will give them Tablets and Smart Phones.

Dr. Somsak Chunharas, Deputy Minister of Public Health has expressed his concern over a delayed development of Thai children even though the problems encountering child development in the country have been existed for over forty years.

And before that?

Once again Education Thailand have put the cart before the horse and blaming all sorts of reasons except their own shortcomings, when Education Thailand comes out from under the fairy's wand , then we will see some improvement, unless you have proper education standards how in the F@@@ing hell are parents of tomorrow going to know how to bring up children etc if basic ground rules, knowledge and the three RRRs are not even known about, I don't dare mention Hexadecimal.

"In Thailand, ... the delay in physical, mental and ethical development which currently affects around thirty per cent of children, Dr. Somsak said."

I'd say it's considerably more than 30%.

You're off to a bad start Doc.

"...the problems encountering child development in the country have been existed for over forty years."

Over 40 certainly.

Is Thailand finally come out to say they have had this problem for 40 years? So why are they trying to teach teens? Teens will not learn from a book physical, mental, or especially ethical development. They learn this from their families and their role models. Shouldn't the minister be trying to focus parents how to train this age group?

If this started or has continued for 40 years then they should focus and the root that leads the examples.

Go ahead and tell a teen not to be corrupt then do it yourself and see what the teen does in the future. He is not going to remember the book telling him not to be corrupt. He will remember how you got what you wanted by being corrupt yourself and then follow in your footsteps.

Developing approaches to stimulate development? What a joke!! The USA and UK have had those things in place for more than half a century. That includes pre-natal and post-natal as well as infant care and development.

Development starts when the child is conceived and doesn't stop.

Adults here don't accept western culture for the development of children. They don't even accept medical advancements for kids.

Yikes, they are worried about the ethical development of the children ! ! ! ! How about the complete and utter lack of ethics among the adults especially the leadership of the country, the law enforcement community, the poor ethics of the teachers and school administrators, the judiciary and finally the business owners? This country lacks ethics at every level of society and now they say they are worried about the children ! ! ! What do they expect, they have NO role models, none whatsoever.

Unbelievable.

"Teenagers who form the third group will be taught and instilled with positive attitudes in order to control the violence and drug use among them."

Don't know about physical but mental and ethical I can see that they are doing all right at the moment.

Reading all the articles about school gangs consisting of little cowards, attacking everything and anything on their way.

They need proper education and not the shambles of schooling they are attending now.

Monkey see, monkey do!

Judging by the way this country is run, and by some of the idiotic announcements by the leaders, one could be fairly certain the the delay in physical, mental and ethical development has affected children in Thailand forever...

Even when the are fully grown,some have the minds of

spoilt children,and act like them.

regards Worgeordie

Yikes, they are worried about the ethical development of the children ! ! ! ! How about the complete and utter lack of ethics among the adults especially the leadership of the country, the law enforcement community, the poor ethics of the teachers and school administrators, the judiciary and finally the business owners? This country lacks ethics at every level of society and now they say they are worried about the children ! ! ! What do they expect, they have NO role models, none whatsoever.

Unbelievable.

Unfortunately, it's totally believable.

With everything being Thai and little interest in the little outside world, hard to see a lot of options for young people. They are not rewarded for ambition. Even if educated, what do they have to look forward to ? Those smiles hide a bit of sadness.

I find that most kids don't really eat proper food until they are in their teens or just before it. Most Thai kids will go running away when it is time to eat and then demand snacks just after dinner time. The parents immediately fork out the money. Or, a lot of kids will only eat pork sticks with eggs and rice every. single. meal.

You don't really develop very well in physical terms based on lays and coke--the diet of most kids under 12 here.

In a totalitarian society that's the way they like kids to be ... as dumb as possible. This in turn ensures compliance and above all nobody question what the rulers are doing.

A friend of mine once taught here and she stated that the average teacher was as thick as mud ... how on earth can you possible educate kids by employing people who cannot or do not want to teach?

You have to feel sorry for the kids; few have any real opportunities to excel.

What sort of development do you expect to get if most parents jam their kids' faces onto smartphones and tablet screens?

By the time they realize how bad it is we can expect about 2 or 3 generations before the changes kick in:

- Realization and acceptation of the extend of the problem without the fear of losing face: 20-30 years.

- Implementation of actual policies that could actually work without those policies to be for the benefit of tea money: 20-30 years.

- Actual implementation on new-born that have not been already affected by the current situation: 20 years for them to grow-up

By this time hopefully education will be good and corruption will be gone....

Or they could actually start meaningful reforms now..... Could try something new, like: stop making statements and take actual actions....

The group ages six(6) to teenage is not even mentioned. Is this group out of control for six or more years until they become a serious problem in their teens? Naaah, couldn't happen.

the problems encountering child development in the country have been existed for over forty years. .... So what changed from 41 years ago when this problem didn't exist?

Well first let's congratulate the Minister for Public Health for raising the issue....without awareness there will never be any change.

In rural Thailand many, many babies are not looked after by their parents...but by their grandparents. The mothers tend to be very young and the fathers tend to leave after a short time. For me the figure that 30% have retarded development perhaps means that 60% of the males have retarded development....it seems that most of the girls are ok. The Thai idea of glorifying male children in the family is at the root of the problem, and the education system which seeks to develop deference to the hierarchy instead of critical thinking skills comes a close second.

I disagree with the minister's proposed solutions which are merely observing the problem not fixing it. We need a national curriculum of skills which need to be acquired by a) everybody and by selected children. They also need to sort out the teaching profession which seems to me to be the same as the police....promotions are awarded to those who pay and they need to have some critical evaluations about whether teachers are up to the job. Most that I have met are simply dogmatic people who like to talk a lot....just see who grabs the mike at weddings.

Not to worry, now that they will have the 12 core values installed in to their brain they will succeed in being Thai. What else could one want for their children.

For those wondering what the are (including myself):

The twelve Thai Values are:

1) Upholding of the three main pillars of the country: the nation, the religion, and the monarchy

2) Honesty, sacrifice and patience with positive attitude for the interest of the public

3) Filial piety towards parents, guardians and teachers

4) Seeking of direct and indirect knowledge and education

5) Preservation of Thai traditions and cultures

6) Morality, integrity, considerateness, generosity and sharing

7) Understanding and learning of true democratic ideals with His Majesty the King as Head of State

8) Maintaining of discipline, respectfulness of laws and the elderly

9) Being conscious and mindful of action in line with His Majesty's the King's royal statements

10) Applying His Majesty the King's sufficiency economy, saving money for time of need,

being moderate with surplus for sharing or expansion of business while having good immunity

11) Keeping physical and mental strength, unyielding to the evil power or desires,

having sense of shame over guilt and sins in accordance with the religious principles

12) Putting the public and national interest before one's own

Well, you will give them Tablets and Smart Phones.

you mean "Tablets" as in vitamins with opposite reaction?

Is Thailand finally come out to say they have had this problem for 40 years? So why are they trying to teach teens? Teens will not learn from a book physical, mental, or especially ethical development. They learn this from their families and their role models. Shouldn't the minister be trying to focus parents how to train this age group?

If this started or has continued for 40 years then they should focus and the root that leads the examples.

Go ahead and tell a teen not to be corrupt then do it yourself and see what the teen does in the future. He is not going to remember the book telling him not to be corrupt. He will remember how you got what you wanted by being corrupt yourself and then follow in your footsteps.

Developing approaches to stimulate development? What a joke!! The USA and UK have had those things in place for more than half a century. That includes pre-natal and post-natal as well as infant care and development.

Development starts when the child is conceived and doesn't stop.

Adults here don't accept western culture for the development of children. They don't even accept medical advancements for kids.

One of several excellent posts" if we can see it then the Thais can see it. Which leads one to the conclusion that the development and education of children has been systematically and intentionally squashed. Why! Because it suits the powers that be. I have always wondered why there were not more Royal programmes in this field where there is so much excellent work done in the farming sector.

Thailand gas not wanted smart children because they would challenge the dumb corrupt power base and elite here. They have skills - skills at cheating, manipulating and grabbing everything for themselves.

There is little point in bleating about how behind the curve the kids are for it can only be as a result of how far behind the curve are the adults in charge of the programmes to teach them.

Why the heck do farangs want to change the stupid asses? Keep them dumb to preserve a cheap playground. Can we afford to just pack and run to Beverly Hills?. Let's face it you farangs and me included we are here because life is cheap not because we like to smell the streets stench, if any farangs are so smart to make a living anywhere else please go and forget the shitty place LOS is and will be long after we all croak !

I say.

Some of these underdeveloped and immature children seems to have made it to the highest offices of Thai government...

delayed or held back by the system?

Delayed development - something with which many politicians are well acquainted, both in Thailand and without.

Once again Education Thailand have put the cart before the horse and blaming all sorts of reasons except their own shortcomings, when Education Thailand comes out from under the fairy's wand , then we will see some improvement, unless you have proper education standards how in the F@@@ing hell are parents of tomorrow going to know how to bring up children etc if basic ground rules, knowledge and the three RRRs are not even known about, I don't dare mention Hexadecimal.

Yes Sir. Education including critical thinking.

Also, if this country adopted and implemented Rule of Law it would aid development in ethics/morality/social awareness and some understanding of the rights of others aiding the country eminently.

Even when the are fully grown,some have the minds of

spoilt children,and act like them.

regards Worgeordie

So very true, but I'd say MOST not some.

Thais seem to lack the ability to delay gratification, and self discipline is unknown.