Sukhothai, Phayao and Hat Yai in Songkhla province have been added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (Unesco) list of "learning cities", raising the number of such cities in Thailand to seven.
Unesco's Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) is an international network of cities that successfully promote lifelong learning across their communities.
The announcement was made recently when 77 cities from 44 countries were added to the list, which brings the total number of GNLC cities to 294 in 76 countries, Unesco's director-general, Audrey Azoulay, said.
"With more than half of humanity living in urban areas, cities have the power to drive lifelong learning policies by implementing and supporting local initiatives and bring bottom-up change," she said.
"The newly admitted Unesco learning cities have a wealth of expertise and commitment to ensuring that the right to education becomes a reality for people of all ages."
Other places in Thailand already on the GNLC list are Chiang Rai (in 2019), Phuket, Chiang Mai and Chachoengsao in 2020.
Other Asia Pacific cities added to the GNLC list this year were Canning in Australia, Cao Lanh in Vietnam, Guangzhou in China, Hamedan in Iran, Hwaseong, Nonsan and Sejong in South Korea, and Nilambur, Thrissur and Warangal in India.