Bangkok – 23 March 2021 – The Ministry of Labour is announcing its partnership with Microsoft (Thailand) Limited under a mission to upskill 4 million Thai workforce nationwide, increasing their potential to reach more employment opportunities and building sustainable economy through greater digital citizenship. The partnership, which will see Microsoft provide necessary digital skills and learning resources including Microsoft Teams to connect people together through Department of Skill Development under Ministry of Labour and to help people in all career fields to achieve more, builds on the company’s efforts in its Global Skills Initiative – itself launched last year to address growing employability challenges and demands for new skills, due to digital transformation from the impact of COVID-19 disruption.
Prof. Narumon Pinyosinwat, Deputy Minister of Labour, said, “The rise of digital technology has raised concerns over its impact on the society and economy, especially the workforce. Thailand’s key challenges today include the development of digital citizens to support key industries as, with the country stepping into the digital and Thailand 4.0 era, new types of businesses and jobs have emerged. Hence, it is crucial for the workforce to reskill and upskill themselves immediately. They should be equipped with future skills required for future jobs, in line with the government policy under the leadership of Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha and the governance of Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, focusing on empowering people with digital skills to thrive in their careers. This has led to valuable employment opportunities and support for workforce transformation in the manufacturing industry. Today, we have secured cooperation from Microsoft (Thailand), a global technology leader who understands the importance of digital upskilling and will share basic and advanced knowledge for the public to access through online training. This partnership aims to equip Thai workers with digital skills, ultimately boosting their employability, growing our digital citizenship and building more sustainable economic foundations for the country.”
Mr. Dhanawat Suthumpun, Managing Director of Microsoft Thailand, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in all sectors, and technology is playing a major role in this process. Therefore, the workforce needs digital upskilling in anticipation of possible changes in their roles and responsibilities. This will lay a new foundation for them in the future and help them to better adapt to new circumstances, while businesses will benefit from greater operational flexibility. Under this partnership, learners can choose to develop skills that match their interests in order to support workforce development in this era of digitalization. Providing a learning platform that offers all levels of digital skills courses can address the needs of learners and give them more opportunities to conveniently educate themselves – either online or through the Department of Skill Development with support from the Ministry of Labour. On behalf of Microsoft, I would like to thank the Ministry for this partnership. We previously announced a goal to equip 25 million people around the world with digital skills to support employment and drive economies impacted by COVID-19 to thrive with digital-based jobs. This partnership builds on our global mission, and we hope that all Thai workers will benefit from the platform as there are various learning courses, including basic digital courses until digital citizen development courses such as DevOps and Computer Science to develop new skills and update their knowledge to attain specialization certificates to be ready for the demand of digital scientist currently.”
“The success of this partnership is not defined by the Ministry of Labour nor Microsoft, but it is workforce themselves to utilize knowledge that they learn from the platform to secure their jobs or future of work and be able to taking care of their families, business and society to build a strong foundation for the country and so on” Khun Dhanawat concluded.
This partnership between the Ministry of Labour and Microsoft Thailand is part of the company’s commitment to enhance digital skills education and close the digital divide. It is also in line with the company’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft’s key roles in the partnership include:
- Providing digital skills knowledge: Microsoft will provide digital skills learning courses covering 51 courses in Thai language, including modern productivity applications and digital essentials for beginners and new businesses. Currently, there are 6 courses already available – including digital literacy, Microsoft Word, Power Platform, Power BI and Microsoft PowerPoint. In the future, Microsoft aims to supply an additional 200 in-depth learning modules in English from Microsoft Learn to enhance Thai workforce’s skills and knowledge.
- Microsoft Teams train-the-trainers program for the Department of Skill Development: In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Skill Development had no choice but to shift from offline classes at 82 centers to online learning through Microsoft Teams. Therefore, Microsoft organized a train-the-trainer session on Microsoft Teams on March 5, 2021 to help deliver enhanced online learning experiences in the future. The trainer attendees will pass on the knowledge from the session to workforces in their respective areas.
Efforts under this partnership will run in parallel with Microsoft’s existing upskilling initiative, which also offers various free online courses for different career paths. The public can access the available learning courses by visiting www.dsd.go.th and selecting Online Training.