On 11 August 2010, Mr. Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, presided over the awarding ceremony for the winner and finalists of the “ASEAN Quiz 2010.” The Foreign Minister also gave remarks to and took a group photo with all of the students who participated in the activity.
Foreign Minister Kasit stated that he is pleased to address the students and that by the year 2015 the “ASEAN Community” would be established. The Thai students therefore must seek more knowledge about ASEAN in order to be ready to understand more about the organization and its member countries. Foreign Minister Kasit hoped that teachers and students would enjoy this activity and gain knowledge from this ASEAN Quiz competition and ready to be the citizens of ASEAN.
The Department of ASEAN Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized the “ASEAN Quiz 2010” as part of the celebration of the 43rd Anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN (8 August) at Vithes Samosorn. The ASEAN Affairs Department has annually arranged the ASEAN Quiz for the past 4 years to promote better understanding about ASEAN and encourage the youth, who are important part of the society and future of the region, to learn more about the organization, particularly the establishment of the “ASEAN Community” in 2015. In addition, the ASEAN Quiz is also an activity complementing other relevant projects of the Foreign Ministry such as “Roving ASEAN” which is a reach-out programme of the ASEAN Affairs Department to promote knowledge about ASEAN to the Thai students in the provinces.
The winner of the ASEAN Quiz 2010 was the team from “Prommanusorn School Phetchaburi,” comprising Ms. Ladda Dittawong (teacher), Mr. Jesadapol Thongphet (student) and Miss Preeyapat Cheeachat (student).
Last year, the ASEAN Quiz focused on the 10th to 12th grade students. Nevertheless, since ASEAN is an issue close to every people’s live and everyone should know about the importance of the organization, the ASEAN Affairs Department has expanded the target groups of the competition to include the 7th — 9th grade students. This year activity also allowed teacher, who used to participate in the competition as coach of the team only, to be a team member. The new element came from the idea that teacher is an important part of the networks to promote knowledge about ASEAN to the society in a sustainable manner.
The competition was attended by 300 students and teachers from 50 schools in Bangkok and other provinces, vying for the title of “Big Fan of ASEAN.”
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th