Cultivating morality, ethics, and values and strengthening the public spirit and good citizenship

Cultivating morality, ethics, and values and strengthening the public spirit and good citizenship

     Cultivating values and culture is essential for empowering and developing human resources. Therefore, it must create participation from all sectors, including the government sector, private sector, and civil society, by using social mechanisms such as family, school, temple, community, and media to instill cultural values, integrity, discipline, morality, ethics, adherence to core institutions, patriotism, and national pride, and to encourage Thai people to have a public spirit, volunteerism,and a shared consciousness about the conservation of natural resources and the environment.

     To instill morality, ethics, and values and to strengthen the public spirit and good citizenship, one must begin from cultivating values and culture through family upbringing by encouraging warm families and being able to adhere to morality, ethics, and integrity.

     On the matter of adhering to the core institutions of patriotism and national pride and the philosophy of the sufficiency economy, activities have been organized that help enhance such characteristics, as well as the development of parents to be good role models in living, and cultivating good values and culture.

     In addition, the management of teaching both inside and outside of school by inserting the cultivation of morality, ethics, and public mind into all subjects and activities can strengthen the public spirit and good citizenship. This includes adjusting the environment inside and outside of school to be conducive to morality, ethics, and a public mind, and having three skills learned in school: academic, professional, and life.

     It is also essential to cultivate community-based values and culture by developing community leaders to be role models, setting strategies and goals, and cultivating values and culture at the local level (community/ local/ province). And the last thing is to encourage Thai people to have a public spirit and responsibility to the public by raising awareness of their duties, being punctual, accepting diversity, appreciating the value and importance of careers, or being employed, focusing on self-reliance, social responsibility to others, and being a good citizen.

     The goal is “Thais are perfect human beings who are ready in all dimensions according to the standards and balance in terms of intellect, morality, ethics, and good spirit, and understanding how to behave and adapt to the environment better.”

     The indicator has been defined as "The citizen whose age over 13 has joined activities reflecting on moral and ethical practices. The target values have been specified as follows:

From 2018 to 2022: a requirement of 5% increase from the base year;
From 2023 to 2027: a requirement of a 5% increase over the previous period;
From 2028 to 2032: a requirement of a 5% increase over the previous five years;
From 2033 to 2037: a requirement of a 5% increase over the previous period. 

Guidelines for development include the following:

1. Cultivate values and culture through family upbringing, good cultural values and norms through family institutions, and strengthen the strong and warm family institutions;
2. Integrate honesty, discipline, morality, ethics, and environmental aspects in the management of teaching in and outside of school. Provide instruction according to the royal initiatives and philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy  –awareness and participation in protecting natural resources and the environment to accommodate domestic and international changes;
3. Strengthen religious institutions to spread good doctrine, promote religious protection, promote activities, and apply religious doctrine in daily life;
4. Cultivate values and culture using the community as a base. Preserve, develop, and continue the local artistic, cultural, and wisdom heritage, natural resources, and the environment -- have campaigns that promote Thai nationality at the local and community levels. Provide a cultural heritage area of the area. Promote the community as a base for creating a self-sufficient lifestyle;
5. Encourage Thai people to have a public spirit and responsibility to the public by promoting and supporting non-profit public organizations.

Source: Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council
962 Krung Kasem Road, Wat Somanus, Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Bangkok 10100
Tel. +66 2280 4085