Thailand to implement education reform

BANGKOK, March 20 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha has ordered the Education Policy Development Committee (EPDC) to map out a five-year national education reform, aimed at enabling graduates to have jobs and boosting their competitiveness in the lead-up to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), set to be formed by the end of this year. Thai Deputy Education Minister Krissanapong Kirtikara told a press conference on Thursday, after an EPDC meeting chaired by Prime Minister General Prayut, that the five-year national education reform plan, ordered by the prime minister, was set from 2015-2020. Krissanapong said that the prime minister also asked EPDC to coordinate with the National Reform Council (NRC) and the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on working out national education reform for practical implementation and results. Krissanapong noted the prime minister suggested that the planned national education reform be focused on a distance learning television (DLTV). According to the deputy education minister, the prime minister also ordered that concerned parties study outstanding educational systems of Finland, Singapore and South Korea and apply them for Thailand’s education reform, with developments to be seen within three months in the short-term and five years in the long-term. The deputy education minister revealed that the prime minister wants the Vocational Education Department to cooperate with the private sector on developing vocational educational syllabus to enable at least 100,000 graduates to have jobs from what they have learned within this year. Besides, the prime minister wants Thailand's educational standards at the university level to be able to compete with oversea universities, while graduates have sufficient skills to work at special border economic zones to be set up by the government in the near future. (TNA)