More significantly, though, the policy also declares Thailand's diverse ethnic languages as "national treasures" and supports the right of getting ethnic tongues integrated into the school curriculum, thus bringing Thailand into compliance with several important United Nations human-rights declarations. The new policy states: "It is the policy of the government to promote bilingual or multilingual education for the youth of ethnic groups whose mother tongue is different from the national language [Thai], as well as those from other countries who enter Thailand seeking employment."
This new policy is also reflective of the essence of cultural democracy. Thailand, with its low fertility rate, will need to accommodate workers and their children from the region and ensure that they are able to retain their mother tongue as well as learn Thai.