Thailand urgently needs digital education disruption to prepare its future workforce within five years or else it will lag behind competitors, say leading corporations, researchers and tech pioneers.
"Digital disruption will grow exponentially within five years, and those who cannot catch up with this rapid change will fall behind," said Krating Poonpol, founder of Disrupt, a training course on digital disruption, and co-founder of 500 TukTuks.
Thais are familiar with changes in linear growth so they may be unable to prepare for the upcoming changes from automation, he said.
Instead of waiting for the government, private organisations have to accelerate education reform themselves, said Mr Krating.
He said education provides a massive opportunity to be a growth sector.
The US market value is around US$1.4 trillion (43.9 trillion baht), contributing 10% of GDP to the country. In emerging countries, education can contribute 7% of GDP, said Mr Krating.
The education sector has gained momentum from investors in education tech startups since 2010, worth $3.4 billion.
In US tech firms, education credentials are likely of no importance when recruiting employees, as they tend to prioritise social validation of individuals, said Mr Krating.
Apple and Google also work with universities to provide training that suits their needs and that work in their companies.
This phenomenon is also happening more in Thailand, such as with PTT.
He said the top worker skills by 2020 are likely to be complex problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management, coordination of others, emotional intelligence, judgement and decision-making, service orientation, negotiation and cognitive flexibility.
"We need to disrupt every single step of formal education, from homework to pre-working," he said.
"Personalised education is needed for each student, based on their skills and goals."
Re-skilling workforces in business organisations is also a must, said Mr Krating.
Citing statistics from the OECD, Somkiat Tangkitvanich, president of Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), said 50% of Thais are functionally illiterate, 53% don't have basic maths skills and 47% lack basic science knowledge necessary for daily life.
Some 16 organisations, including the TDRI, are working to reform the Thai education system and have founded Thailand Education Partnership (TEP).
TEP has proposed to set up a small number of Special Education Areas as sandboxes to innovate in a new environment, free from centralised policies and regulations.
From these areas, lessons learned from successful interventions will be applied to other parts of the country.
Charas Suwanwela, head of the Independent Committee for Education Reform, agreed with the TEP proposal, and said a collaboration with the Education Ministry will be announced in the next few months.
Mr Somkiat said there are many challenges for industries facing digital disruption, such as banks, telecom, media and healthcare.
Two groups that have not been disrupted yet are education and government, he said.
Kattiya Indaravijaya, president of Kasikornbank Plc, said the bank also needs to re-skill some staff positions as the importance of technology has made some workers redundant.