Education & Health

The education system will need serious improvement if it is to break out of the classic “middle-income trap”. Reforms on the table call for a move to learner-centred teaching and greater use of IT in the classroom, including a “One Tablet Per Child” programme. Neither will be a panacea; observers cite a chronic disregard of secondary education in favour of funding the primary and tertiary sectors. In the health sector, a decade-old universal coverage scheme is the bedrock of government policy. But several aspects of the system are ripe for reform, including an expensive fee-for-service model covering civil servants, and a government monopoly on a passel of pharmaceutical drugs. This section features interviews with Reverend Brother Bancha Saenghiran, Rector, Assumption University; and Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, President, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS).