Thai students learn Myanmar language prior to AEC

BANGKOK, August 15 (TNA) - High school students in Thailand’s southern resort Phuket province are learning the Myanmar language, as part of national preparations toward the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. Students of Satri Phuket School have enthusiastically taken the Myanmar language course, taught by a native instructor as an elective subject. Since last year, the school has offered foreign language courses to its high school-level students, including the Myanmar and the Chinese languages. The classes consist of speaking and writing lessons twice a week. According to the school management, the Myanmar language class has become increasingly popular among the students and their parents, following the historic general election in the neighbouring country in April 2012, as there are now a large number of Myanmar migrant workers in Phuket in the lead-up to the scheduled establishment of the Single Market of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the next three years, together with free flows of trade, investment and even workforces. (TNA)