It’s worth it! It should be accomplished within a year.

The creative media fund has moved ahead with the Cabinet’s approval. A study of how to manage the fund with money from more financial sources is urgently required. If the Act is not passed by the Senate, it will impact the fund which has an annual budget of 500 million baht. It is worth investing for the well-being of future generation, as each child only needs 21 baht.

Associate professor Dr. Wilasinee Adulyanon, director of the office for Campaigning and Public communication, Office of Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), said that once the bill for the fund for safety promotion and creative media (...) was passed, the next step would be submission of the bill to the Board of Ordinance for explanation before legislation. It was expected that all these processes would take 1 year to complete. Meanwhile there would be additional studies, such as fund management, how to maintain the fund in accordance with the law, additional income sources over and above incomes from the Committee for Radio Broadcast, TV and National Telecommunications (…). An estimated amount of 400-500 million baht, from donations, supports from state enterprises, and taxes from movies, would be administered via the foundation for Radio Broadcast, TV and National Telecommunications.

Associate professor Dr. Wilasinee went on to say that investment in children would be very good value for money. With 500 million baht in the management fund for 23 million Thai children, it was equivalent to spending 21 baht on each child per year. Having good community building media would help children to develop as strong citizens and valuable human resources with intelligence, modality and ethics. Countries like England, Australia, Japan, Korea and Singapore had spent as much as 40% of their money for mass media, while Thailand invested a mere 10% on children media.

Associate professor Dr. Wilasinee said, “the above-mentioned Act has been taken 7 years of hard work to promote by networks of, academics, people working for children and families, and a great number of mass media. As part of the movement, I am pleased to say that all our efforts have been paid off by the government. I believe that from now on there will be cooperation from everyone. This is because it will have good impact on the society, especially in situation where children are vulnerable to bad influences”.

Dr. Somkiat Tangkitwanit, director of Thailand Development and Research Institute (TDRI), stated that the budget for the promotion of Radio Broadcast, TV and National Telecommunications, was in Section 46 of the bill for Radio Broadcast, TV and National Telecommunications (year…), which should be regarded as part of the responsibility of several work units involved. Although the bill had gone through the House of Representatives, it had yet to be considered by the Senate. If the bill was not approved by the Senate, it would affect the promotion fund. But, the fund could still be used, since there were other financial supports as back-up. However, the government should see the importance of taking care of children, and this in itself should act as a continual pressure.