the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Thailand eighth in the 10-member ASEAN grouping in this category, which was even lower than Vietnam and Cambodia.
in relation to its gross domestic product, Thailand spent a large amount on education, especially on teachers' salaries.
efforts were already being made to address the problems, such as evaluating teachers based on students' performance; equipping students with analysis, language and ICT (information and communications technology) skills; and encouraging more youngsters to opt for vocational education.
"Over the past four or five years, teams from other ASEAN countries have come to Thailand to look at how the education sector can be improved, and they've managed to deliver results. Yet Thailand is unable to solve its educational problems," he lamented.
up to 1.6 million Thai children were unable to read or write, adding that this problem was not new and had plagued the country for nearly two decades.