INAUGURAL ADDRESS AND KEYNOTE

SPEECH

by H . E . Mr.Sukavich Rangsitpol
Minister of Education, Thailand

Director-General of the Non-Formal Education Depart-

ment, Director of UNESCO-PROAP,Director of UNESCO
Institute for Education,Governor of Chon Buri Prov-
ince,Distinguished participants, Ladies and Gentle-
men,

It is indeed a great honour and privilege for me to have

the opportunity to give an address at this regional con-
sultation on adult education.

It is also an honour for Thailand to host distinguished

participants from all parts of Asia and the Pacific Re-
gion. May I extend a cordial welcome to all the partici-
pants in this regional conference.

This regional consultation on adult education verifies

a strong intention and contribution of the organizing
agencies - UNESCO and the Department of Non- For-
mal Education - in their efforts in the realm of adult ed-
ucation.

In fact, during the past decade, the Ministry of Educa-

tion, the Non-Formal Education Department in particu-
lar, has co-ordinated with several international organi-
zations in organizing symposiums, workshops and con-
ferences in education.
The notable ones are the World Assembly on Adult Ed-
ucation and the World Conference on Education for All,
organized in 1990, which marked a rigorous bench-
mark towards eradication of illiteracy, and quality edu-
cation all over the world.

I strongly believe that, as a citizen of the world, any

person has the right to learn and should be entitled to
have access to education according to their compe-
tency and needs.

It is essential that the government provide educational

services that respond to the people’s needs.

Education, therefore, has to be organized in such a

way that people from all walks of life can participate
in educational activities at levels and times of their
preference.

At one time, it was reasonably appropriate that we

placed more emphasis on eradication of illiteracy, and
tremendous efforts were put forward to tackle illiter-
acy.

Those efforts have resulted in a higher percentage of

adult literacy. By and large, adult education in Thai-
land has been very good.

However, I would like to see adult education in Thai-

land do more with a diversified emphasis on three peri-
ods: the short, medium and long-term.
For the short-term, it is essential that adult education
concentrate on literacy education.

When I say literacy, I refer to not just being able to

read and write Thai, or English in your countries, but
also literacy in technology.

In this era, anybody who cannot operate a computer

could be considered technologically illiterate.

For the medium phase, which is particularly appropri-

ate to the Thai situation, we found out that the aver-
age unskilled worker in a factory acquired only-a 6-
year education.

We have to expand to a 9 year education nationwide

to provide enough skills to these workers.

For the long-term, we are looking forward to providing

a 12-year education for all Thai people.

And thus non-formal education will continue its role of

providing higher education for the people.

This would be a long-term goal for non-formal educa-

tion to concentrate on.

The main reason that we have to gear towards that

goal stems from our belief that to diminish poverty of
the people, we have to provide them with suitable edu-
cation.
Education is perceived as a crucial instrument for in-
creasing productivity and income, skills, competency
of human resources, and sustainable growth.

In the end, education helps reduce social problems,

and improves quality of life so that people can live
equally with others in society.

The provision of education has to be congruent with

the pace of the changing world.

This era - the era of globalization where all sources of

information can be accessed within a few seconds
through Internet and World-Wide-Web linkages, we in-
evitably have to take a further step beyond literacy
level.

The speedily changing world and the growth in busi-

ness and industrial enterprises have led to greater de-
mand of semi-skilled manpower, who need a higher
level of education in order to perform their tasks at
the adequate level.

To keep up with the speedy change, the educational

system can no longer take a passive role.

In fact, there is a need for the reform of the entire edu-

cational system to keep up with the challenges of
globalization and “information technology” so as to
prepare our younger generation for adapting to the up-
coming challenges.

The focus of education cannot be merely on general

and vocational education.
It is equally important that the education system pro-
vides its clientele with learning skills, so they have
the ability to “learn how to learn”, the ability to make
rational judgments, and they are able to express their
democratic rights and freedom.

Both individuals and communities must be able to pos-

sess the skills and knowledge required to function pro-
ductively in the changing world.

The changing society, especially in business and in-

dustrial sectors, will be the main driving force that
paves the way for Thailand to become a “learning soci-
ety” where continuing and lifelong education will ac-
tively play a dramatic role in updating the knowledge
and skills of the people.

Realizing the need for changes in educational roles

and management, the Ministry of Education, under my
administration, has introduced several changes as
part of the education reform.

The goal of the reform is to realize the potential of

Thai people to develop themselves for a better quality
of life and to develop the nation for peaceful co-exis-
tence in the world community.

The reason we have to reform is that there has been a

wide economic gap between people in the urban and
rural areas.
Economic growth in Thailand is one of the fastest in
the world with almost double digits every year. Cur-
rently, the growth is between 7-9 per cent.

Twenty-five years ago, the per capita income was

$100 a year. Now, the average has reached $2500,
which is a substantial increase.

However, the growth has resulted in inequality of in-

come. The average income in Bangkok is $7500, while
the average in the east coast and the northeast is
$4500 and $800 respectively.

That is, people in Bangkok earn 10 times more than

people in the northeast. The gap between the rich and
the poor is very wide.

While the unskilled labourers in Bangkok earn $2,000,

which is the minimum wage, the people in the country-
side earn only $400 a year.

The main question is: how can we expand their level

of education to higher levels from 6 to 9 and to 12
years respectively ?

Currently, expenses for formal education, particularly

in vocational colleges, can be very expensive. Parents
have to pay $1000~$2000, depending on location, to
send their children to vocational schools.

Therefore we have to improve and provide free educa-

tion for poor children up to 12 years in formal
schools.
Non-formal education, then, should play a greater role
in secondary and higher education.

What I would like to achieve is to see our educational

system assist people to be able to cope with social
and economic problems and progress.

Also, it should be a key element to help Thailand catch

up with the globalization technology, and eventually, I
would like to see the excellence of Thai education by
the year 2007, a decade from now.

With regard to the learning society, as I mentioned

earlier, optimistically, people from all walks of life
should be able to have equal access to education ac-
cording to their needs and potentials.

All sort of boundaries, be their gender, age, socio-eco-

nomic status, physical or mental disabilities have to
be eliminated.

To achieve this, we have to distinctively promote con-

tinuing and lifelong education, the form of education
which is responsive to individual needs and prefer-
ences.

With educational facilities and a variety of educational

programs available, people can make use of the learn-
ing centre as a place to acquire technical skills or
knowledge adaptive to their work and daily life activi-
ties.

With regard to the learning society, as I mentioned

earlier, optimistically, people from all walks of life
should be able to have equal access to education ac-
cording to their needs and potentials.

All sort of boundaries, be their gender, age, socio-eco-

nomic status, physical or mental disabilities have to
be eliminated.

To achieve this, we have to distinctively promote con-

tinuing and lifelong education, the form of education
which is responsive to individual needs and prefer-
ences.

With educational facilities and a variety of educational

programs available, people can make use of the learn-
ing centre as a place to acquire technical skills or
knowledge adaptive to their work and daily life activi-
ties.

It seems that the more the country is developed, the

more essential adult and lifelong education will be.

Since a great number of people are outside the school

system, adult education will always play a great role
in the improvement of our human resources.

And, I do believe that your coming here to this confer-

ence will make a valuable contribution to the milieu of
adult education.

On behalf of the Royal Thai Government and the Min-

istry of Education, I would like to express our sincere
appreciation to UNESCO-PROAP, UIE and the Depart-
ment of Non-Formal Education who have helped make
this regional consultation possible. I hope your en-
deavours here will be fruitful and beneficial to the or-
ganizing agencies, the participants, and eventually the
target audience of adult education programs. Also, I
hope your stay in Pattaya will be a pleasant and mem-
orable one.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I, at this auspicious mo-

ment, declare the regional consultation to be officially
open, and wish you all every success in your delibera-
tions.

Thank you

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