The Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa) has rolled out the "dTeachers" training programme aimed at improving teacher's skills in instructing students how to code programs, hoping to help 400 teachers from 78 schools by the end of this year.
Primary and secondary schools -- either private or state-owned -- are the target of this project.
The project should upgrade the digital coding skills for teachers, such as those providing coding study materials, said Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, president of Depa.
"By the end of this year, we target having 9,300 students, or 120 students per school, taking part in the coding courses through this programme."
dTeachers is operated under Depa's Digital Manpower Fund, aimed at improving competency and technology along with digital innovation. Some 70 million baht has been budgeted for the task this year.
Depa's partners, such as Microsoft Thailand, offer financial support for school infrastructure to ready the institutions to provide coding programs and develop coding platforms and curriculum for digital literacy.
A coding course offers fundamental literacy for any advanced computer programming skills, Mr Nuttapon said. Any schools or agencies interested in the scheme can apply from Feb 1-25.
"The pandemic and economic slowdown mean digital literacy and assistance for digital transformation are fundamental to help people and enterprises survive in this difficult situation," he said.
Depa recently chose eight local startups to support via its angel fund with a combined sum of 20 million baht.
The eight represent the first batch of startups under Depa's angel fund promotion in 2021. These startups are from the fields of education tech, fintech, healthcare tech and data platforms.
As the pandemic continues to rage, Depa plans to promote local startups in provinces, using their technology to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) weather this difficult situation.
"There are various kinds of SMEs, but they all need digital platforms that can help them cope with customer behaviour changes and embark on new business models and operations in the wake of the pandemic," said Mr Nuttapon.
These SMEs need to learn important skills to help them strengthen their business, he said.
Depa wants to provide financial support of 100 million baht to 70 new startups through its startup fund this year, up from 50 last year. They need to be associated with five technology areas: agricultural tech; education tech; fintech; tourism and healthcare; and digital services, including e-commerce and delivery, he said.
