Wijit Srisa-arn

Wijit Srisa-arn ( _th. วิจิตร ศรีสอ้าน) is a former Thai 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-government policies like Thailand's participation in the One Laptop Per Child program and plans to install broadband internet connections in all Thai schools.

Democrat MP

Wijit was a Democrat MP following the 2001 general election which the Thai Rak Thai party won in a landslide. He became head of the Democrat Party’s committee on educational issues. [The Nation, [http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/page.arcview.php?clid=3&id=49590&usrsess= Opposition slams PM's U-turn] , 10 October 2001]

Minister of Education

In 19 September 2006, the Thai military overthrew the elected government in a coup. The junta appointed Surayud Chulanont 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. [Bangkok Post, [http://bangkokpost.net/News/28Nov2006_news04.php Education Ministry axes 3 schemes] , 28 November 2006]
* The cancellation of plans to install personal computers and broadband internet connections in every public and secondary school in Thailand. [Bangkok Post, [http://bangkokpost.net/News/28Nov2006_news04.php Education Ministry axes 3 schemes] , 28 November 2006]
* 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. [The Nation, [http://nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30018847 Famous schools ordered to take in half of new students from neighbourhood] , 14 November 2006]

Due to escalating violence in the South, all schools in Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat provinces were shut down indefinitely from 27 November 2006. Over 1,000 schools were closed. [The Nation, [http://nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30020082 All schools in restive south to be closed] , 27 November 2006] [The Nation, [http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/11/28/national/national_30020154.php Over 1,000 schools closed] , 28 November 2006]

ee also

*Surayud Chulanont
*Thailand 2006 interim civilian government
*Council for National Security

References