Thailand to be free from illiterate children

BANGKOK, January 12 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Education has introduced a policy on eliminating illiteracy among children within this year. Education Minister Admiral Narong Pipattanasai announced the policy on Monday, saying that he has, thus, ordered the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) to urgently implement measures to improve and to ensure quality literacy of students at all groups and levels under its supervision, covering students' abilities to read, write and communicate, in order to meet the target within the second semester of the 2015 academic year. Admiral Narong told journalists that he has also instructed all educational institutes to be responsible for solving the problem of illiteracy among their students within the set timeframe, suggesting that they inform parents of their children's problems and invite them to participate in their schools' closely taking care of the children to solve the children's problems and to achieve the target. According to a latest official survey, there are about 26,000 illiterate children throughout Thailand now, a drop from about 35,000 last year, most of them are children of migrant workers, followed by those of hill tribes and other ethnic groups. (TNA)