Thailand Given a Low Ranking in Education and Human Resources Development by Phairath Khampha 3 September 2001 Thailand was ranked almost at the bottom in Asia in terms of education and human-resource development, a finding that raised a disturbing question about its competitiveness, according to the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC). According to the PERC, Thailand is ranked 10th out of 12 countries surveyed for its education and human resources. Thailand, which received a score of 5.96 in a scale from zero to 10, with zero being the best grade possible and 10 the worst, managed to be ranked ahead of only Vietnam and Indonesia. The most competitive nation in terms of education and human resources were South Korea, followed by Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, India, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. In its survey, PERC found that due to the relatively poor standard of education and human-resource development, there was a shortage of qualified personnel in Thailand's workforce, which plagued commerce and industry. Moreover, this shortage threatened to put a brake on investment and production plans. "On the overall quality of education, English language and hi-tech proficiencies and the availability of superior management skills, Thailand is among the very worst," the report said. "The parlous state of Thai education, from primary school to the tertiary institutions, must primarily be blamed for these mounting risks. Inevitably there can be no quick fix as it will take many years before reforms can begin producing results." PERC conducted this survey to try to evaluate the competitiveness level of a particular economy, which also depends on the quality of its labour force. Apart from natural resources, an economy's competitiveness also depends on the quality of its legal system, an open-door policy to foreign investors and financial-sector sophistication, and the level of corruption. In all these categories Thailand scores very low except for, perhaps, its open-door policy to foreign investors, which is better than most countries in Asia. PERC assigned the highest grade to South Korea, whose education system had been influenced by China and Japan. Yet South Korea had moved its own way to produce a sound education system - even better than that of Japan - that has been able to produce a quality workforce. PERC especially cited its concern over the poor quality of education in Thailand and Indonesia. In the case of Indonesia, the economic crisis that started in 1997 had even deprived the authorities the money they needed to upgrade the school system. Furthermore, the high level of corruption in the country meant that virtually all the money directed at development of the country's education system was being stolen by high-ranking officials and members of the economic and political elite. Thailand's labour situation is better than Indonesia. Before the crisis, PERC said, the Thailand suffered from a lack of qualified engineers, which had become an economic bottleneck. The problems in the banking sector and legal system were also cited as Thailand's weaknesses as institutions failed to perform their functions to the standard required to meet the challenges of the crisis. "The cost of labour in Thailand is attractive, but as in Indoensia, its quality is lacking. This will make it difficult for Thailand to move up to a more sophisticated level of development," the report said. "The current government knows this is a problem, but it remains to be seen if it will be any more effective at addressing it than were previous governments. In any event, progress will take time, and labour constraints will be one of the key factors that limit the pace and direction of Thailand's economic development in the years ahead."