kIngdom's competItIveness in research and development depends on government's abIlIty to promote educatIon
the Lack of skilled workers is hampering the advancement of research and development in industry, while the government should pay more attention to education and labour development to increase the country's competitiveness, European businesses and a labour foundation said last week.
"In manufacturing, our investments are always scoped for 10 or more years so what's going to happen in the short term is actually much less important than the mid and long terms.
"Right now we are seeing a lot of new investments going into Thailand and many new projects are being discussed, so there will be even more demand for skilled labour in the future," said Uli Kaiser, president of the Thai European Business Association.
TEBA said a large part of Thailand's academic population is in government as officials because they have to pay back their grants.
These high-skilled workers should have an earlier release from their government duty so that they have the freedom to join the private sector to help increase the country's manufacturing prowess via the infrastructure that has already been set up by the private sector, it said.
"Most manufacturers already have R&D infrastructure such as an RDI [research, development and innovation] departments equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, but they have difficulty finding high-skilled people to operate it," he said
TEBA is ready to support such public and private partnerships in terms of R&D efforts and its members are eager to cooperate with the government in this respect.
"The overall risk in terms of long-term investment in Thailand is very low while the potential rewards are very high due to the strategic location along with the best infrastructure for manufacturers in Southeast Asia.
"But to move forward in the development of R&D requires long-term investment in education and human development and the association is willing to support the government in this public-private effort," he said.
Chanchot Jombunud, secretary-general of the Foundation for Integrated Human Development Centre, said that to tackle the problem of skilled labour shortages, the government has to change its mind-set for grading students and businesses have to change their mind-set for investing in human resources.
The entire educational system including institutions and teachers should stop seeing students who have bad grades as failed individuals and try to support what the students are good at instead of branding them with what they are not.
"Not every student is good in math and science. Some may be better in handicrafts and art and that does not mean that they are bad students.
"Any kind of talent should be fostered and no one should be looked down upon just because they have bad academic grades.
"Right now the system and society are discouraging students with bad grades from going to school or even trying because they are crucified every time they get a bad grade while gaining little recognition for their talent in other fields," he said.
More students would join vocational and polytechnic schools if they were given an equal opportunity and the same recognition as bachelor degree students, while the government can support this mind-set by making sure that blue-collar workers receive the same opportunities and welfare as white-collar workers.
Thai schools should find out what their students want for a job at the beginning of high school and try to support and guide them towards their career path while keeping a record of the students' career choices so that agencies like the National Economic and Social Development Board can use the data to forge the county's long-term development plan.
The mind-set of operators should also be changed. They should be encouraged to understand that investment in human resources such as training and further education will provide good returns for their businesses.
However, it takes time for such investment to bear fruit so the government should provide incentives and capital for operators, especially small and medium enterprises, to help them with the cost for such investment.
"Capitalism encourages operators to only think about lowering cost to increase profit, so they are reluctant to spend money to develop their workforce.
"Operators are afraid that trained workers will end up leaving in the future so they are reluctant to spend. Therefore, the government should provide some kind of incentive to encourage operators to spend money on training their employees," he added.