4 Countries with Smart Policies

"What raised you?" A review of society blueprint from 4 countries that have rapidly developed thanks to smart policies"

If children really are the future of nations, why are the 1.1 million Thai children still not found in the Thai education system. Why do approximately two Thai children still die from drowning everyday? Why do 7.3 million Thai children still belong to vulnerable groups? 

The birth rates in recent years have dropped sharply and hit the lowest in Thai history. It could be deduced that Thailand is starting to enter an aging society where youth are facing the socio-economic gaps that have been further widened as time goes by. 

Will you believe it if someone says a solution to these problems is a human-centric approach for policy-making? 

If Little S is born in Estonia, the e-Government system will calculate and determine the closest school for S and when he reaches school age, he will be enrolled in that school automatically. Its educational institutions place utmost importance on child development since kindergarten. Estonian kids will be trained at a young age in social skills, assertiveness, and confidence to ask any questions when in doubt. In other words, they will learn to pose any questions from “learning by playing” where teachers play an important role in the preparation of physical and emotional development.

If Little Lion is born in Singapore, he will grow up in a family that is available to fully support his development. Not only that Singapore has a good and reliable infrastructure but also its Innovation Lab, which has been working closely with the government sector, and has created an application called “Moments of Life” to facilitate parents along the process. This application can help with registering for a birth certificate, searching for benefits provided by the government, searching for daycares, and even checking for their children’s vaccination records. Thus, it can help reduce stresses of parents when they have to deal with loads of paperwork. Moreover, Innovation Lab has collaborated with the 15 agencies and made them available in the single application for a one-stop service. This can be achieved thanks to their established objective which is “user needs must be understood.”

If Little Eng is born in the United Kingdom, she will grow up with an education system that can be transformed constantly to adapt to the modern life and protect both students and school staff who are the fundamental part to advance the education system. Recently, the government has launched a campaign called “Keeping Children Safe in Education” to listen to public opinions. The UK citizens can read the edited draft of The Education Act and give suggestions for further improvement. This shows that the voices and needs of the people are deemed more important than the sanctity of the law and the official titles who, in fact, should be striving for excellent services for the public.

If Little Kay is born in South Korea, her parents will immediately receive a 8,000-baht allowance for child support. In 2025, the amount will be increased to 13,500 baht with a 54,000-baht bonus after each childbirth. New parents can take pregnancy leave and still be rewarded with the 80,000-baht allowance. These are implemented to ensure that each parent will have enough time in raising a child for the best development. Moreover, Little K will be taken care of under “Early Childhood Education and Care” in which the government has invested 10 times more than its expenditure in 2000. Under this policy, the government will provide more learning spaces through plays, sports, and arts to help develop children’s knowledge and emotional intelligence as well as increase their confidence. Consequently, they can create a social space for children’s joy which should be implemented in the early age.

This piece was originally published on Thailand Policy Lab.