Thailand's EEF presented at HLPF 2019

NEW YORK, July 15 (TNA) - A Thai official delegation is participating in the 2019 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF 2019) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York during July 9-18, during which the country's progress in creating the equal education for all, through the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), has been presented. An EEF representative, Thantida wongprasong, told TNA on July 14 that the agenda of the HLPF 2019, themed "empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality", includes a review on progress in educational development by member countries to reduce the disparity in education for their population towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (UN-SDGs 2030). Thantida said that the HLPF 2019 has acknowledged Thailand's progress in attempts to develop quality lifelong education systems for all. Thantida quoted Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thosaporn Sirisumphand, Secretary-General of the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), as presenting Thailand's EEFbefore the HLPF 2019 to show the Thai government's determination to keep developing the country's education to achieve the UN-SDGs 2030 in due course, when nobody is left behind, through the promotion of equal and quality education opportunities for all. The NESDC chief was quoted as stressing that Thailand's EEF, which was established in 2018, is aimed mainly to create equal lifelong quality educational opportunities for people in the Kingdom comprehensively and concretely. The NESDC chief stated that the EEF, set up in accordance with Thailand's new Constitution, is in charge of first providing support to a targeted group of the 20 per cent-most impoverished or underprivileged students and people in the country who have been and will be financially sponsored to meet their individual need and demand in education to achieve the EEF's main goal and the UN-SDGs 2030 eventually. The NESDC chief mentioned that the Proxy Means Tests (PMT) has been adopted to precisely screen the most impoverished or underprivileged students and people in Thailand and has found about two million of them nationwide so far, about 600,000 of whom, or about 30 per cent of the total, have been specially allocated additional state budgets to prevent them from being forced to leave the national educational mainstream frame due to their financial problem. Besides, the EEF is developing a database and information technology (IT) system, aimed to detect and draw back students who have left the national educational mainstream. The Thai official delegation, meanwhile, declared that the HLPF 2019, during which Thailand's Voluntary National Review (VNR) has also been reported, is a significant global platform for the Thai government to learn and share knowledge and build up cooperation with other UN member countries towards the UN-SDGs 2030 with nobody left behind. (TNA)