Summary · why it matters
Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul presided over the opening of Thailand², a national effort to boost human capital, declaring human capital development a key government mission to enhance the potential of Thais at every stage of life, adapt to global changes, and build long-term national competitiveness. Five ministries—Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation; Education; Labour; Agriculture and Cooperatives; and Social Development and Human Security—have integrated human resource development and reported on progress over the past 90 days. The Prime Minister said that developing people is an urgent global priority in an era of ageing societies, technological change, geopolitical volatility, and environmental challenges. Countries that keep pace with the world must have human capital that can learn and adapt quickly, which is why the government is prioritising the enhancement of Thai people's potential as a national agenda. During a visit to the People's Republic of China last week, he observed the research and development investment approaches of leading technology companies such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and Alibaba, which continuously prioritise investment in personnel and innovation. Notably, Huawei reinvests about 20% of its revenue into research and development, reflecting that countries aspiring to leadership must invest in people and knowledge alongside technology. The government will push human capital development as a core mission for all agencies, supporting lifelong learning, workforce upskilling, access to education for all ages, and mental well-being to prepare citizens to effectively navigate the changes of the modern world. Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Yotschanan Wongswasdi outlined the Lifelong Support action plan, reflecting a vision of comprehensive care for Thais throughout their lives. He stressed that caring for citizens must go beyond welfare—it is an investment in human infrastructure, starting from early childhood, ages 0 to 6, the most critical period. The government aims to reduce the burden on working families by overhauling early childhood centre systems, adjusting operating hours to truly align with parents' lifestyles and work schedules, and redesigning back-end systems to expedite the delivery of the 600-baht child allowance to families within 30 to 45 days. This goes hand in hand with pushing for stricter child protection laws to ensure every Thai child grows up in a safe environment. For school-age children aged 7 to 18, the government has declared war on redundancy in the education system through a policy of giving time back to teachers, boldly cancelling unnecessary projects and slashing performance indicators by 71.52%, creating a positive ripple effect across more than 30,000 schools nationwide. This allows teachers to return to their core duties of classroom teaching and student development. Alongside this, the Zero Dropout PLUS project sets an ambitious goal of bringing over 500,000 out-of-school children back into classrooms or vocational training, while building future leaders by awarding ODOS international scholarships to over 3,282 individuals to bring world-class knowledge back to develop the country. For those starting their careers and building their lives, aged 19 to 35—a phase of expanding capabilities—the government has made a historic decision to break down educational inequality by subsidising over 147.2 million baht through the TCAS system, enabling over 900,000 young people to take the TGAT/TPAT exams for free, unlocking financial burdens for hundreds of thousands of families. In terms of workforce development, proactive targets have been set to produce personnel that meet the country's structural needs, including training an additional 22,200 doctors and over 12,000 high-skilled semiconductor professionals. Furthermore, jobs have been secured for over 40,051 people, and social security benefits have been enhanced with 12 new dental treatments requiring no upfront payment. A key highlight is the collaboration with tech giant Google to provide Career Certificate scholarships to upskill over 10 million Thai workers, preparing them for the disruption of the AI era. For expanding potential among older adults and vulnerable groups aged 36 and above, Yotschanan said the focus is on elevating farmers to become full-fledged technology entrepreneurs through support for precision fertiliser use based on soil analysis, promoting safe and organic farming areas totalling over 2.62 million rai, and encouraging the use of satellite-based farm management applications. Meanwhile, the government has built a safety net for later life with the CARE old-age pension formula, adjusted kidney replacement therapy criteria to extend patients' lives and reduce waiting times, and used big data such as the Social Map system to scan areas and identify over 230,000 overlooked vulnerable individuals for access to state welfare cards. Additionally, the Digital Healthcare Platform, now with over 3.67 million users, is being expanded, a Senior Complex model city is set to launch in Bang Lamung district, and a budget is being finalised to support universal disability allowances at a rate of 1,000 baht. Beyond laying long-term foundations, Yotschanan also highlighted concrete achievements over the past 90 days under the key message that what we do, we do for real, with science and technology. The work is divided into two main parts: new initiatives with immediate visible results, such as the equitable TCAS69 policy, using AI to scan for redundancy in national research projects—saving the government over 72 million baht immediately—pushing for salary adjustments for over 67,000 university staff, and the greatest pride of delivering the Thai-made CE-7 MATCH space equipment for a lunar orbit mission. Meanwhile, ongoing work has been scaled up to create national impact, including the Traffy Fondue platform, which has transformed urban problem-solving and complaint handling, successfully resolving over 1.9 million cases; the PPAP precision poverty alleviation platform, which uses data to target assistance for over 300,000 households; the upgrading of local enterprises, generating nearly 10 billion baht annually for communities; water management projects secured by big data; and the Thai-made train project. All of this is clear proof that innovation can genuinely solve livelihood problems and improve the quality of life for Thais. Furthermore, Yotschanan unveiled a roadmap for generating new national income, announcing the launch of four new economic strategies: the Semiconductor Thailand strategy, poised for a decisive move with the ASEAN Chips Diplomacy policy to position Thailand as a regional production base; the Wellness Economy strategy, ready to inject over 12 billion baht into the medical innovation ecosystem; the Space Economy strategy through cooperation on lunar exploration missions with major powers like China and the United States; and the national AI strategy, which sets a major goal of building digital literacy for 20 million Thais, along with the launch of the TARI readiness index to assess and upgrade organisations nationwide.
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