Wijit Srisa-arn
Encyclopedia
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
politician and was appointed Minister of Education in 2006 by a military junta following a successful military coup. As Education Minister, he has cancelled several key Thai Rak Thai
Thai Rak Thai
The Thai Rak Thai Party was a Thai political party that was officially banned on May 30, 2007, by the Constitutional Court of Thailand due to violations of electoral laws during the 2006 legislative elections. From 2001 to 2006, it was the ruling party under Prime Minister and its founder Thaksin...
-government policies like Thailand's participation in the One Laptop Per Child program and plans to install broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
internet connections in all Thai schools.
Democrat MP
Wijit was a DemocratDemocrat Party (Thailand)
The Democrat Party is Thailand's oldest political party and was the main coalition government party of the 23rd House of Representatives of Thailand. The Democrat Party's current leader is Abhisit Vejjajiva, incumbent opposition leader and former Prime Minister. The party upholds a conservative...
MP following the 2001 general election which the Thai Rak Thai
Thai Rak Thai
The Thai Rak Thai Party was a Thai political party that was officially banned on May 30, 2007, by the Constitutional Court of Thailand due to violations of electoral laws during the 2006 legislative elections. From 2001 to 2006, it was the ruling party under Prime Minister and its founder Thaksin...
party won in a landslide. He became head of the Democrat Party’s committee on educational issues.
Minister of Education
In 19 September 2006, the Thai military overthrew the elected government in a coup. The junta appointed Surayud ChulanontSurayud Chulanont
General Surayud Chulanont is a Thai political figure. He was the Prime Minister of Thailand and head of Thailand's Interim Government between 2006 and 2008...
as Prime Minister and Wijit Srisa-arn as Education Minister. Key policies Wijit enacted included:
- The cancellation of Thailand's participation in the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program.
- The cancellation of plans to install personal computers and broadbandBroadbandThe term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
internet connections in every public and secondary school in Thailand. - Forcing 430 prestigious schools across the country to accept half of their students from the local neighborhood. All other schools would be required to accept all applicants; if applicants exceeded seats, a random draw would choose which applicants would be accepted.
Due to escalating violence in the South
South Thailand insurgency
An ethnic separatist insurgency is taking place in Southern Thailand, predominantly in the Malay Pattani region, made up of the three southernmost provinces of Thailand. Violence has increasingly spilling over into other provinces...
, all schools in Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat provinces were shut down indefinitely from 27 November 2006. Over 1,000 schools were closed.
See also
- Surayud ChulanontSurayud ChulanontGeneral Surayud Chulanont is a Thai political figure. He was the Prime Minister of Thailand and head of Thailand's Interim Government between 2006 and 2008...
- Thailand 2006 interim civilian government
- Council for National Security