HRD Profile - Thailand: The Tiger Goes Back to School

United Nations ESCAP
HRD Section

HRD PROFILE: THAILAND

The "Tiger" Goes Back to School

FROM ESCAP HRD NEWSLETTER NO.9

Human resources development has been a determining factor for the fast growth of the economies of South-East Asia. Thailand has been no exception. In health and education, however, new challenges have emerged. In this HRD profile on Thailand, we look at some of the new tasks ahead.

In the past ten years, it has been hard not to notice Thailand’s economic boom. The country enjoyed spectacular economic growth, at one time being the fastest- growing economy in the world. Average annual GNP growth between 1980 and 1993 amounted to no less than 7.9 per cent. Thailand’s 60 million-strong population is now enjoying an average per capita income of more than US$ 2,200.

A large part of the rapid economic growth can be attributed to an unprecedented magnitude of foreign investment in the country, coupled with a stable currency and a healthy investment climate.

The progress of the country in various aspects of human resources development, however, has been mixed. Whereas the economic boom enabled Thailand to almost eradicate malnutrition and illiteracy in the country in the past 15 years, pockets of poverty still persist. The decade of economic progress has not benefited all, and income inequality between poor areas, such as those in the northeastern part of the country and Bangkok, has increased.

HEALTH

In health, the achievements made in eradicating malnutrition and in wiping out diseases such as malaria, have in recent years been offset by the AIDS epidemic. As of November 1996, more than 44,000 people had been reported to have developed AIDS, and the number of persons infected with HIV was estimated at 800,000. The epidemic has spread to the general population, away from the original social groups to which the disease was confined to in its early years.

It is expected that the epidemic will have a profound impact on Thailand’s health care system. In addition to the serious economic consequences — increasing demand for hospital beds, escalating costs of care, and impoverishment of those affected — structural changes in health care will be necessary if the challenges of the epidemic are to be met. Such changes will have to include a shift from individual-centred to comprehensive care, and the introduction of alternatives to hospital-based care. Many people do not have adequate access to essential medicines, an important element in providing care for people with AIDS. A strategy to improve the supply of such medicines for the chronically ill is necessary. Part of such a strategy should be to assist medicine companies to devise methods for reducing medicine prices for low and middle income countries. Local medicine companies need to be encouraged and supported to use their existing capacity and infrastructure to produce and distribute essential medicines themselves instead of purchasing them from abroad. Partnerships between the public and private health care systems, the pharmaceutical industry and communities need to be established to make essential medicines more affordable.

Deregulation in the primary health care system has lead to a large increase in the number of private hospitals, mainly in Bangkok and urban areas. It is therefore that the increased demand for hospital beds can be offset somewhat by this increased supply. However, it remains to be seen to which extent those suffering from the disease will have the financial means for the traditionally more expensive private hospitals.

EDUCATION

Despite the massive investments and growth in the country in the past decade, the educational system appears not to have been able to keep pace with the increased demand for skilled manpower, particularly in the technical areas. More in general, Thailand’s educational achievements have been lower than what could be expected from its GDP level. Universal enrolment in primary education has been virtually attained. However, secondary enrolment ratios have continued to be low when compared to most of Thailand’s neighbours (see chart).

Country	GDP per capita (US$, 1995)	Secondary gross enrolment ratio, %
Country	GDP per capita (US$, 1995)	1980	1992
Indonesia	883	29	43
Malaysia	3,522	48	60
Philippines	957	64	77
Singapore	23,357	58	68
Thailand	2,212	29	39

Source: EIU, UNESCO Statistical Yearbook 1996.

The Thai Government has introduced measures to increase participation in secondary education by, among other means, extending the number of years of compulsory education from 9 to 12 in 1996.

A second challenge being faced by the Thai educational system is to address the relatively low number of graduates, both at the secondary and tertiary level, with a degree in science and technology. As Thailand’s traditional low-cost and labour-intensive exports have slowly been replaced by production by other low-cost exporting countries in South-East Asia, an increased demand for skilled manpower has developed. Acute shortages of technically-skilled personnel have been reported. Only some 15 percent of university students graduated in science and technical professions last year. With the economy slowing down in 1997, that tension seems to have eased to some extent. However, as locally-trained professionals and engineers will increasingly have to generate the economic prosperity of the country on the basis of value-added products, rather than from assembly production by overseas investments, this challenge will remain to be a valid concern for Thailand’s economic future.

A third and final challenge to be taken up by the Thai educational system is more fundamental and structural in nature. As conceived by many, the organization and management of the schooling system has been conservative. Methods of teaching have been focussing on obedience and respect, rather than encouraging creativity and initiative. Teachers have not received the regular briefing and training necessary to conduct and adapt their classes to new circumstances. Curricula and teaching aids have been outdated and of poor quality. Whereas an urgent campaign has recently been started to introduce schools throughout the country to computer technology and the Internet, more than 10 percent of them mostly in remote areas, had as of yet no electricity.

It seems clear that the challenges, both in education and health, need to be addressed in the next few years to regain the country’s competitiveness and continuation of progress and growth. The coming years may well prove themselves to be crucial to determine whether the Asian economic success story, will enter another chapter in Thailand.

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ESCAP HRD NEWSLETTER NO. 9