Country unprepared for AEC, minister says
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The Thai education system has not developed sufficiently to make the country competitive at the regional level or to prepare it for the launch of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, Education Minister Woravat Auapinyakul said yesterday.
Speaking at a Senate hearing on the AEC, Woravat said sufficient funds were not available for special school and university courses to boost national awareness and skill training geared toward the regional competition expected under the AEC.
Officials and members of the private and public sectors lack the knowledge needed to compete when the region-wide free-trade scheme takes effect in 2015, the minister said.
There will be more than 8,000 products made in all member countries that could be sold regionally without tariffs, against which Thai goods will find it difficult to compete because they are costlier to produce.
Woravat said he would call for a review of certain conditions of the EAC.
English-language training and courses on Asean-relevant knowledge are under way, but Thailand needs more experts on Asean in many issues relating to specific countries, the minister said.
He said local universities were working on a programme to assign teaching orientation courses on specific Asean members to specific universities, ahead of the preparation of a curriculum to teach Thai students about the regional grouping.
