The government is being advised to apply more educational technology as a tool to address inequality in education and upgrade Thailand's competitiveness.
Danucha Pichayanan, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Council, said educational technology (edtech) is a trend increasing the quality of academic content and teaching techniques that aims to solve the problem of inequality in education.
This technology enhances opportunities to access learning and solves the problem of students stuck at home during the pandemic, he said.
Edtech combines IT tools and educational practices meant to facilitate and improve learning.
According to Mr Danucha, the global value of edtech was estimated at US$220 billion in 2020, up from $183 billion in 2019.
The global value of edtech is projected to reach $404 billion in 2025, he said.
No survey has been conducted on the value of the Thai edtech market.
Mr Danucha said edtech should help disseminate knowledge equally, including for schools in remote areas where there is a shortage of teachers proficient in fields of study or simply a dearth of teachers overall.
There are various successful models using edtech both in Thailand and abroad.
The council proposed internet infrastructure be developed to allow equal access for all parts of the country if the government wants to encourage more usage of edtech.
In addition, government policy must focus on the adoption of edtech in education to address disparities, he said.
A supporting technological system must also be developed to allow consistency for each area, said Mr Danucha.
This initiative has the potential to enhance Thailand's competitiveness, he said.
"If we want to increase the country's competitiveness, we should put more emphasis on accelerating the development of people's skills by improving education and labour quality," said Mr Danucha.
"This includes developing a high-performance workforce, continuous learning and the use of technology to develop people, as well as cultivating an open-minded attitude towards learning new things and dealing with change."
He said the public sector must focus on facilitating human resources development by creating learning mechanisms as well as an environment and infrastructure that makes it easier for all groups of people to develop their skills.
Furthermore, the availability of information and appropriate development direction in accordance with the aptitude and needs of the country in the future is also critical, said Mr Danucha.