Driving Global Skill Initiative project to uplift Digital Skills for 10 million Thais
Bangkok – 15 December 2020 – Microsoft Thailand, in collaboration with partners from public and private sectors, namely Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa), Department of Skill Development, Office of the Non-Formal and Informal Education, Thailand Professional Qualification Institute (Public Organization), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Jobs DB Recruitment (Thailand) Limited, and Thai Fund Foundation, launches “Accelerating Thailand” project, aiming to enhance the capabilities of 250,000 Thai labors across the country with digital skills through offline and online channels by October 2021.
COVID-19 pandemic has widely impacted jobs of many employees, daily workers, and overall population. Thailand’s Social Situation and Outlook of Q1/2020 report by the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) reveals that unemployment rate in the country grew by 1.03% or there were 400,000 more unemployed people. This year, it is predicted that there will be 8.4 million labors from 3 key industries that are at risk of losing their jobs, consisting of 2.5 million labors in the tourism and hospitality industry, 1.5 million labors in the industry sector and 4.4 million workers in other industries who have been impacted by the closures of several tourist attractions, such as markets, shopping malls and restaurants. Meanwhile, 520,000 fresh graduates are likely to face challenges landing a job as soon as they start to enter the job market.
In addition, a study by AlphaBeta strategy x economics which was released on June 10, 2020 concerning the COVID-19 pandemic impacts on job employments in countries in Asia Pacific identifies that in Thailand, it is forecasted that hotels and businesses related to personal services and transportations will be most affected by the crisis. The adoption of AI is expected to potentially boost the recovery and profits in the economic sector by 5-6%.
Mr. Dhanawat Suthumpun, Managing Director of Microsoft Thailand, said, “There are some jobs that are expected to be declining and disappearing while new employment opportunities will focus more on searches for the workforce with expertise in digital skills. Microsoft is committed to equipping everyone with digital skills which can be accessed through online and offline channels. These skills are not only practical but can also help them adapt to the latest jobs and increase their competitiveness in the future job market. I would like to thank all the partners for the strong collaboration. I am certain that the potential of technology will drive digital skills development towards job employment in a structured manner and it will fulfill our purpose to complete a digital skills development journey for 10 million Thai labors as soon as possible.”
The project takes place under a strong collaboration between Microsoft and expert partners from both the public and private sectors which play a key role in driving the implementation of projects through knowledge, resources, and other contributions. These needed to ensure the project reaches all groups of people who need digital skills to increase employment opportunities and provide targeted, and effective support. The role for each partners for ‘Accelerating Thailand’ is included;
- Microsoft (Thailand) Limited provides training content, training videos and Thai language manuals on the use of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Power BI, Power App, Digital Literacy to provide training for speakers from partner agencies, together with organizing the Microsoft Office Specialist for Microsoft Excel to pave the way for the field of Data Analyst and Data Scientist in further action.
- The Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa) support platform https://www.digitalskill.org/ for people to be accessible through this network and platform of depa for further digital skill development to meet competency digital standard assessment. As well as promoting employment community in JobD2U which is the center of vacancy job position announcement and applicant profile to match ‘the right person’ with ‘the right job’
- Department of Skill Development in cooperation with Microsoft to organize digital skills training for the training employees in the Department of Skill Development for knowledge sharing to target group nationwide and support the knowledge and training content through our network and platform in accordance with the demand of the labour market and improve labour standard by support National Occupational Skill Standards test for Computer Using (Data Processing, Working Timetable and Presentation) according to allocated plan and budget.
- Office of the Non-Formal and Informal Education (ONFE) worked with Microsoft to provide digital skills training for teachers of ONFE to distribute the knowledge skills to approximately 186,000 target groups through 7,424 ONFE centers nationwide. And to encourage the training content in the project to reach the public through the ONFE’s network and platform.
- Thailand Professional Qualification Institute (Public Company Limited) supports Digital Literacy with a national assessment tool by Thailand Professional Qualification and support partial cost for program participants in the amount consistent with the institution’s budget in 2021 and to promote the certified participants in Propin application.
- JobsDB conducts skill training preparation before applying for a job and forecast employment tendency and how to develop outstanding resume. As well as giving trainees the opportunity to register on the platform com to give employers the chance to access job seeker profiles.
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) joins forces with the office of the Non-Formal and Informal Education (ONFE) to provide a training for teachers in the ONFE center. In addition, this also encourages the training content to be conducted in the program to reach out to long distant youth in both domestic and aboard through the UNESCO’s platform lll-olc.net
- Thai Fund Foundation coordinate with all organizations, project measurement along with monitoring the progress from those who have been hired and jointly promote the project.
Those interested can contact for free training at office of the Non-Formal and Informal Education (ONFE), Institute for Skill Development and the nearest office of Skill Development, and online classes are also available through affiliate websites in the programs mentioned above.