Chonburi Deputy Gov. Chamnanwit Taerat honored HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s commitment to children on her 60th birthday by re-launching the province’s child development program.
HRH Princess Sirindhorn began a youth-development project in 1980 and the Ministry of Public Health joined the initiative by surveying the education levels of children every three years.
The Public Health Department said 30 percent of children had some kind of developmental obstacle between 1999 and 2014, while the National Statistical Office estimated 20 percent of parents and nannies were involved with addressing the problems.
Dozens of teachers and health care staff took part in the re-launching of the province’s child development program.
Children are not attending school on a proper basis and the major problem is lack of education, the ministry said.
Wuttikrai Saksurakarn of the Chonburi Health Department said that in 2013, the Ministry of Education reported that 10-15 percent of students in the 4th- 6th grades could not read or write.
In 2014, the Office of the National Primary Education Commission reported that Thailand is ranked 29 out of 60 countries in competitiveness, two ranks lower than in 2013.
In 2015, the government issued a new policy with 11 initiatives for the health care of residents. Act 5 addresses the quality of health services and public health development, in which the Ministry of Health is the primary agency that oversees public health and has integrated 15 strategic health plans.
The health plans concerned are focused on women and young children from newborn to 5 years of age, also focusing on child development for Thai children to receive proper educations.
Chamnanwit said that the three-year surveys are still active and that 30 percent of children are still found to have developmental disabilities and lack education.
Although it is a great vision that organizations involved and related networks are seeing the importance of public policies to effectively meet the royal initiatives, the child-development project will remain active and develop children for the future, he said.
Note: No details were given as to the specifics of the project, or how the project plans to address these educational deficiencies.
