Yodchanan lays out AI-led education reform to tackle inequality
He says transport links, digital systems and labour-aligned curricula must work together to break intergenerational poverty in Thailand.
- The reform proposes using digital systems and AI to reduce teachers' administrative burdens, allowing them to focus more on student instruction and effectiveness.
- To tackle inequality, the plan aims to link education to national infrastructure, such as transportation, to improve access to learning resources and break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
- A new National Education Act will align curricula with the labor market's needs, focusing on building practical skills for innovation industries like AI, wellness, and medicine.
- A "safety net" will be established to support families in economic crisis through upskilling and reskilling, preventing poverty from disrupting children's education.
Yodchanan Wongsawat, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, shared his views with students on the National Defence Course, Class 68, on the topic of “Developing education in a dynamic era to tackle inequality” at the National Defence College.
He argued that solving education problems should not be confined to the classroom alone, but must be systematically linked to the country’s infrastructure in order to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty that has been deeply rooted in Thai society for decades.
Yodchanan explained the link between education and infrastructure, saying transport is the key to access to learning resources.
If connectivity is poor, inequality emerges immediately because travel itself becomes a barrier.
He also stressed the use of digital systems as a foundation for reducing teachers’ workload, saying: “The use of digital systems will help reduce unnecessary burdens, allowing teachers to focus more fully on teaching and learning.”
He said this would give time back to teachers and directly improve their effectiveness in nurturing young people.
Building a safety net to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty
Another key point was the creation of a “safety net” to support families facing economic crisis.
He said the state must have tools to help people regain their footing through upskilling and reskilling.
Yodchanan argued that poverty should not become a barrier to the education of the next generation.
A timely support system would help ensure that families in difficulty do not have to pull their children out of the education system to help earn a living, thereby stopping the cycle of poverty from being passed from one generation to the next.
From a governance perspective, Yodchanan stressed the need for policy courage, saying: “Leaders must have the courage to make decisions with the future in mind. Even if what they decide is not yet understood today, it is necessary for long-term change in the country.”
He said the reform was not aimed only at short-term results, but at laying the foundation through laws and state mechanisms that must be integrated across the education, economic and transport sectors to create genuine structural equality.
New Education Act: linking the labour market and innovation
As for reform through the new draft National Education Act, the focus is on bringing education closer to the labour market, particularly by adjusting curricula so they respond more directly to the needs of business and innovation industries, or New Growth Engines, such as AI, wellness and the medical hub, to strengthen the country’s competitiveness.
Under this approach, education would shift from textbook-based instruction to building skills that can actually be used in today’s world of work.
This reform approach has been seen as comprehensive, but it also faces practical challenges that will require cooperation from all sectors.
Yodchanan concluded that tackling educational inequality is not the responsibility of any one person, but of every part of the country’s structure, moving together to ensure sustainability.
He said the success of this reform would become a new benchmark for creating equal opportunities for Thai youth in the future.
