The cabinet approved 3.5 billion baht for developing human resources yesterday to produce a skilled workforce for new high-tech industries.
Nathporn Chatusripitak, a spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, said the budget was requested by the Education Ministry for its scheme to improve worker competitiveness, including creating 4.7 million vocational graduates by 2036, up from 1.6 million in 2017.
Some 800 million baht is for the upcoming fiscal budget 2019 for domestic institutes. The remaining 2.7 billion baht will be provided as soft loans with interest of 0.3% a year to institutes and entrepreneurs with plans to improve human resources.
Japan International Cooperation Agency, a plan partner, is providing technical expertise such as screening eligible loans and grant recipients as well as human resource assistance. Part of the 2.7-billion-baht sum is to be allocated for scholarships for 3,000 Thai students and 500 teachers from overseas.
In a separate development, Mr Nathporn said the cabinet approved criteria for implementing the Thai Niyom project to assist community development. Previously, the cabinet approved a 20-billion-baht budget for the project to assist community development. The money is allocated to 82,371 villagers, at a rate of 200,000 baht per village.
