Sustainable ideas for Thailand's future: Youth shine in the competition!

Sustainable ideas for Thailand's future: Youth shine in the competition!

An impressive competition recently took place in Bangkok, giving Thai youth a platform to showcase their visions for the future. Over 510 participants, from primary school to college, took part in the essay competition with the theme “Thailand in the future I want”. The event was organized in collaboration with the Faculty of Communication Studies at Bangkokthonburi University, the Panya Foundation and GPSC. Manager of GPSC, นายพัฑฒิ บุณยสุขานนท์ congratulated the awardees and encouraged all the participants to pursue their dreams. “Youth are a key force for Thailand’s sustainable development,” he noted. The latest initiative reflects the desire to promote this power in areas such as energy, economy and society Mitihoon reported.

But it's not just essay competitions that inspire Thai young people. The Future Youth Thailand initiative, launched by the Ministry of Education and Starfish Education Foundation, aims to equip young people with future-oriented skills. In the first round of the competition, “Pitching Season 1”, the focus was on creative learning innovations. Over 200 teams from across Thailand competed with innovative solutions for a sustainable future, with the top 10 teams advancing to the final round. This initiative is a further step towards supporting young changemakers and helping them to actively shape the future, as in Bangkok Post reported.

Competition results and highlights

The results of the competition are impressive. In the lower school category there were numerous creative projects, such as the PLANET PATCHERS team, which won the Gold Award with their concept “PLANET PATCHERS: The Eco Guardians”. In the upper school, the UT-Recycle team also came out on top with their innovation “Waste Materials to Lightweight Bricks”. Here is an overview of the highlights:

• Unterstufen:
  • Gold Award Champion: Team PLANET PATCHERS
  • Gold Award 1. Platz: Team Science Devil
  • Gold Award 2. Platz: Team Klong Phalang Jai
• Oberstufen:
  • Gold Award Champion: Team UT-Recycle
  • Gold Award 1. Platz: Team KWIT-P101
  • Gold Award 2. Platz: Team Tech Nerd
• Beliebtheitsauszeichnung:
  • Gewinner: Team That Thong Sound

In addition to the competitions, there were also panel discussions and workshops aimed at encouraging young talents' creativity and critical thinking.

Commitment to sustainable development

As part of the broader commitment to sustainable development, the UN system's SDG Micro-Primer in Thailand is also showing success. This was developed together with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation to actively involve young people in shaping a sustainable future. Over 6,800 learners have already taken part since its introduction in October 2023. Loud UN Thailand Workshops and networking events are intended to ensure that the topic continues to gain traction at universities.

The aim is to deepen the educational effect and better integrate sustainable practices at universities. The UN will also take part in the Sustainability Expo 2024 in Thailand, which should give further impetus to the commitment to environmentally friendly initiatives.

Overall, measures like these are encouraging signs that Thailand's youth are ready to take an active role in shaping a sustainable future. They are the heart of innovative ideas and make a decisive contribution to solving the challenges of tomorrow.