'Vocational schools will drive development'

'Vocational schools will drive development'

Students from Chiang Mai Technical College fix a Chaipattana Aerator, which treats polluted water. Experts say Thailand should push for the development of more vocational schools and technical education. Cheewin Sattha
Students from Chiang Mai Technical College fix a Chaipattana Aerator, which treats polluted water. Experts say Thailand should push for the development of more vocational schools and technical education. Cheewin Sattha

What Thailand needs to escape the middle-income trap is an educational overhaul with an emphasis on vocational schools, said Surakiat Sathirathai, the former minister of foreign affairs and former deputy prime minister.

"Appropriate human resources are crucial to advance the new economy, which is driven by automation, robotisation and digitalisation," said Mr Surakiat in his opening speech at an Asian Development Bank seminar titled "Caught In a Trap?: Asia and the Pacific's Middle-Income Countries at a Crossroads".

While Thailand has undertaken several educational reforms in recent decades, Mr Surakiat said the educational system has not yet produced a skilled workforce sufficiently large to move the country beyond the middle-income trap.

Thailand devotes a large budget to education -- around 20% of the total fiscal budget and 4% of GDP, which is close to or higher than developed countries, Mr Surakiat said.

"Thailand must push for the development of vocational schools and technical education, which are crucial to produce the workforce necessary to support new industries," he said.

Vocational schools in Thailand are perceived as educational institutions for dropouts, hooligans and people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, he said, adding that such misconceptions should be addressed and corrected.

Holders of vocational or technical diplomas are considered second-class citizens in Thailand but this is not the case in developed countries like Germany, Japan, France and the UK, he added.

"They develop these work forces, because they recognise they are the backbone of their economies and industries," he said.

Technical college graduates can earn more than university graduates in developed countries, he added.

The practice of giving university graduates higher salaries than their vocational school counterparts -- without regard for the skills they possess -- is unfair and requires fixing, Mr Surakiat said.

He said the high unemployment rate among new graduates, and the large number of vacant positions, suggest there is a serious mismatch in the country in terms of the skilled being learned and those that are needed.

Wencai Zhang, vice-president of the Asian Development Bank, said countries that move beyond the middle-income trap usually shift from an agricultural-based economy to a high-value-added manufacturing and service-based economy.

Heavy investment in infrastructure and human resources is required during this transition to help countries diversify their economies and lift their populations' income, he said.

Improvements in ease of doing business are also required to shift the economy towards more high-value added products, Mr Zhang added.

"Inter-regional cooperation could also push these structural reforms forward by helping countries fill their infrastructure financial deficits," he said.

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