Thailand needs to speed up improvements to
its educational system and support Thai enterprises investing across Asean
borders to ensure the country's preparedness for regional integration under the
Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.
While
Thailand is not far behind other Southeast Asian nations in terms of awareness
about the potential of AEC, educational preparedness has to be increased, said
Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan.
"English
is the working language of Asean, and the Thai educational system has to
prepare the younger generation to be competitive [in this area]," he said
at a forum yesterday at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Arts.
"The
educational system has to teach students to be more analytical rather than rote
learning so they will be able to think for themselves and make a
decision."
At the
same time, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need support from the
government to invest in the Asean region.
"Access
to finances must be strengthened for SMEs to go out and invest cross-border.
You have to give them support," he said.
Political
stability is also critical. Frequent changes of political leadership are not
good for the country in terms of confidence and productivity, he added.
Olarn
Chaipravat, Thailand's Chief Trade Representative (TTR), agreed the Thai
educational system needs huge improvements in order for Thailand to reach 20th
in the world's competitiveness ranking in five years.
A poor
educational system is one reason why Thailand has been stuck at 39th out of 140
countries measured in the Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic
Forum the last five years, said Dr Olarn.
"One
of Thailand's weakest points is the educational system. I got a complaint from
the private sector that the Thai system produces students that are of no use to
them," he noted.
"We
need talented people in the workplace with the ability to communicate not only
in their mother tongue but also English, Chinese and Bahasa."
Klaus
Schwab, the WEF's founder and executive chairman, said income disparity is an
increasingly pressing challenge for middle-income countries. Job insecurity
could affect 600 million workers over the next decade, he added.
Today
200 million people worldwide are unemployed, including 75 million young people,
with 40 million entering the labour force every year.
"We
face growing income inequality, job insecurity, social development challenges
and unprecedented demand shocks to the natural resource base as we live in a
hyper-connected and increasingly urbanised world," said Prof Schwab.
"We
must find innovative ways to address employment, inequality and growth quickly
to avoid social upheaval."
Nareerat
Wiriyapong
Business & Investment Opportunities
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