On July 29^th, 2011 at the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ms. Churairat Sangboonnum, the Deputy Permanent Secretary for Education, joined in a discussion on the topic of “The Readiness Preparation for the ASEAN Community in 2015”. The other speakers were from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The Deputy Permanent Secretary informed all in attendance that the Ministry of Education plays a crucial role in human resource development as it is at the foundation of the country’s development. The process starts from basic education and runs right through to higher education and then continues on in lifelong learning. The main purpose of all missions is to inculcate Thai children to become desirable citizens with knowledge, life skills, a voluntary mind as well as having critical thinking skills.

The Deputy Permanent Secretary stated further that education is also the main mechanism which ingrates into the 3 pillars of the ASEAN Community: ASEAN Political and Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. In this regard, education is to be at the foundation of knowledge and awareness building in relation to the ASEAN Community and the role of ASEAN citizens in 2015.

The Ministry of Education has also initiated various projects on readiness and awareness encouragement for Thai children. This covers capacity building for the Thai workforce in response to the ASEAN Free Trade Area through the signing of an ASEAN MRA Framework which facilitates the mobility of 7 professional fields as follows: Medical services, dental services, nursing services, engineering services, architectural services, surveying qualification and accountancy services. Moreover, the aforementioned MRA takes in two further professions: hotel services and tourism which consists of 32 positions. In this regard, the Ministry of Education deems it to be necessary to accelerate the capacity building of Thai students in terms of knowledge and skills as well as in English and other neighboring language proficiencies and technology. The aforementioned projects consist of the following areas: the Spirit of ASEAN, ASEAN studies curriculum, and educational personnel development in the English language, quality development of private vocational schools. A provision forum for Thai youth to exchange ideas and viewpoints has also been included.

In addition, the Ministry of Education will organize “The ASEAN Day” on August 8^th, 2011. The related activities cover talks and discussion on readiness preparation for the ASEAN Community in 2015 and an ASEAN Free Trade Area.