BANGKOK, 3 April 2012 – The Office of the Education Council (ONEC) has held the “National Children’s Book Day” to urge parents to encourage their children to read.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra presided over the opening ceremony of the “National Children’s Book Day”, held by the ONEC at the Santi Maitree building at the Government House. Held on 2 April of every year in accordance with the government’s policy to encourage reading, the event aims to urge parents to see the importance of reading; which will spark children’s imagination and contribute to the development of their thinking process. On this occasion, a number of activities were held, including exhibitions by the public and private sectors, sale of books from various publishers at the price of 30 baht as well as performances from young-generation book lovers.
Meanwhile, the Senate meeting saw a discussion about the procurement of tablet PCs in relation to the development of the Thai education, during which concerns were raised that having a tablet pc in possession might cause students to become addicted to games; given the 2011 study conducted by Mahidol University indicated that the average age of young game addicts had dropped to 11. Thus, it is feared that without proper management, children might fall slave to technology.
In response to the concerns, Information and Communication Technology Minister Gp. Capt. Anudith Nakornthap explained that the procurement of the tablet PCs was to be carried out under an MOU between Thailand and China. He pointed out that the chosen model would operate on Android version 4.0, which would allow it to send and receive data for the sole purpose of education. Therefore, there was no need to worry that the tablet PCs would be misused by children. Furthermore, he insisted that the tablets would greatly contribute to the learning process of Thai students in the future.
