Poor language skills to hamper Thais come 2015
Posted By Webmaster on March 13, 2012
Poor language skills to hamper Thais come 2015:-
When the Asean Community comes into effect in 2015 regulations for seven professions in the labour market will be eased under mutual recognition agreements (MRAs), enabling people employed in these professions to work in other Asean member countries.
However, while the MRAs will make it easier for doctors, dentists, nurses, engineers, architects, surveyors, and accountants to seek work abroad, few Thais are likely to find their qualifications meet the strict criteria necessary to gain Asean recognition due to poor language skills.
One of the biggest obstacles facing Thais hoping to benefit from the Asean Community is Thais' lack of foreign language skills - Associate professor Patcharawalai Wongboonsin, Chulalongkorn University College of Population Studies
According to associate professor Patcharawalai Wongboonsin, a researcher from Chulalongkorn University’s College of Population Studies, one of the biggest obstacles facing Thais hoping to benefit from the Asean Community is Thais’ lack of foreign language skills.
Ms. Patcharawalai told a Thai workers’ qualifications for the Asean labour market seminar recently that compared to people from Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines where English is widely spoken, Thai professionals face significant obstacles in leveraging employment opportunities and better salaries after the Asean Community comes into existence.
Using the engineering industry as an example, Ms. Patcharawalai said that only 3,712 Thai engineers, or just two per cent of Thailand’s 170,830 engineers, have the necessary certificates, portfolios and eight years of continuous work experience necessary to qualify for accreditation.
The situation is similar for Thailand architects, who must have worked in architecture for at least 10 years, half of which they must have held a professional licence, with at least two years in charge of important architectural projects.
According to Ms. Patcharawalai, with these tough criteria and poor language skills Thai engineers and architects, in addition to other professions, can not compete with leading skilled workers in the region.
Agreeing with the gloomy outlook is Boonlert Theeratrakul, director of the labour market research division at the Department of Labour, who said a recent survey found many Thai workers lacked most in English, IT and numerical skills, making “it really hard for them to compete in Asean”.
Ms. Patcharawalai told the seminar that though Thais were easy to train and could learn their jobs quickly, Thailand professionals had more weak points than strong ones and many workers lacked training, preparation, ethics, discipline and punctuality.
Chirapun Gullaprawit, director of social development strategy and the planning office at the National Economic and Social Development Board, said the number of workers in Asean countries is expected to increase to 300 million by 2015, with higher quality Chinese and Indian workers also expected to join the the professional workers pool.
Mr. Chirapun said Thailand’s education system needs to produce workers for the 21st-century with discipline, synthesising, creative, respectful and ethical minds, in addition to knowledge in their fields and professional skills.
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English language vocabulary
mutual (adjective) held in common by two or more parties
criteria (noun) a principle or standard by which something may be judged or decided (adjective) make a choice from a number of alternatives
recognition (noun) acknowledgment of something’s existence, validity, or legality
significant (adjective) sufficiently great or important to be worthy of attention)
leveraging (noun) the power to influence a person or situation to achieve a particular outcome
discipline (verb) train oneself to do something in a controlled and habitual way
punctuality (adjective) happening or doing something at the agreed or proper time; on time
The full source for this Talking Point can be read at Thais face challenges getting Asean jobs
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