Bangkok--29 Nov--Krungthai Card KTC takes Learn & Earn @ KTC into its 5th year with the theme “From Seeds to Fine Sprouts in Four Years with Learn & Earn @ KTC”. More activities planned for young people in the provinces. KTC celebrates the 4th anniversary of Learn & Earn @ KTC and takes it into its 5th strong year with more and more students enrolling each year. The firm is preparing to approach educational institutions in the provinces, starting with those in the north, to recruit interested students as staffs for Chiang Mai branch of KTC Touch. The program is expected to attract a great number of students. It will continue to help young people become sound members of the community in the future under the theme “From Seeds to Fine Sprouts in Four Years with Learn & Earn @ KTC”. Mr. Niwatt Chittalarn, President & Chief Executive Officer, “KTC” or Krungthai Card Public Company Limited, said “Learn & Earn @ KTC was established in 2003 and now we are celebrating its 4th anniversary already. Looking back in time we noticed that the program never ceased to attract students. There are many institutions which have found on trainee program interesting and directed their students to us as well. This is because they appreciate our commitment to help participants obtain new skills from a real-life job based on their background and interest.” “In the past year we have introduced many new activities for the students. These are lessons learned outside of the classroom and which can be applied to their daily life. They are the kind that simply cannot be bought with money. Among them is “Weaving Dreams and Sharing Love for Thanyaporn Reception Home for Girls” where students had a chance to give and share with those who are less fortunate than they are and make them feel they are loved. These activities contribute to the well-being of the society. The only problem is that people do not generally have the opportunity to engage in them. That is why we, as a capable company, want to teach young students CSR or corporate social responsibility along the way.” “As for the operational direction for Learn & Earn @ KTC this year, given that students from all regions have expressed interest in the program, we have decided to pursue more educational institutions in the provinces starting with Chiang Mai where we have a KTC Touch branch. We want to give students in the provinces more self-improvement opportunities in terms of real-life experience, personality and workplace familiarization. They will also be able to attain skills required for their actual job applications. To this end, we have approached several universities in Chiang Mai to promote the program to interested students. Our Human Resource staffs will be selecting qualified applicants there by this week. A great number of students have applied so far. We will visit other provinces where we have a KTC Touch branch next. We will also bring our experienced and highly capable executives into the program as lecturers to students at educational institutions where they are needed. This is to help give students who have yet to join Learn & Earn @ KTC a glimpse into the real-life working environment because they, too, are significant to the Thai society.” Mr. Mana Boonkhun, Executive Vice President, Resource Management, “KTC”, added “We have had as many as 16,132 students from public and private institutions applying for Learn & Earn @ KTC and 1,409 were selected for our trainee program. We have been constantly evaluating their performance and found them to be able to achieve the goals set and to maintain good academic performance. A total of 108 students have been recruited as permanent employees in different departments of the company.” “Learn & Earn @ KTC welcomes students who require trainee program as a part of their curriculum as well as students who have free time and are looking to gain experience working with us. The program has been publicized by word of mouth by students and faculties. That is why we have more and more students sent to us by different institutions.” Mr. Sommai Surachai, Vice Rector for Student Affairs, Ramkhamhaeng University, said “We are working with KTC to have students enrolled under a course titled Cooperative Study RU 300 undergo 4-month trainee program with KTC for a total of 120 hours in order to obtain 15 credits. A total of four classes have joined the program since May 1st, 2006. Learn & Earn @ KTC is one program which should be promoted because it really helps foster service mind in the students. The students would become user-oriented which is very important to their working life as it helps make them enthusiastic, capable of choosing what is best for customer satisfaction, securing existing clients and attracting new ones. Additionally, students have gained an improved personality. They dress more appropriately, know how to conduct themselves in the public and speak more confidently. We are very pleased with these developments.” Mr. Parinya Chumrum, Lecturer, Advertising Department, Faculty of Communications, University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said “This is a very nice program and a perfect example for other organizations. Students are able to gain real-life working experience and they are not taken advantage of because KTC actually pays them for their service. This way students would develop positive attitude towards working. Students who have joined the program said that KTC staffs took good care of them and helped them learn more about the job they were working on. Their performance improved as they worked with KTC.” Mr. Niwatt further stated “These nice comments have shown us why we should continue to promote Learn & Earn @ KTC as a choice for people of the new generation. On the occasion of the 4th anniversary of the program, we will have activities which revolve around the theme “From Seeds to Fine Sprouts in Four Years with Learn & Earn @ KTC”. Students with good academic achievement and working performance will be selected for KTC Top Performance Awards 2007 as in the previous years. The topic for the contest article this year is “How Young People Create a Better Society” so that students can present what good deeds are possible in one’s life. Five teams of two will be screened and the winning team will be presented with Hong Kong — Disneyland — Shenzhen travel package for two so they can take a family member on a trip with them. This helps fortify the family as a social unit, too.” Learn & Earn @ KTC helps Thai students learn how to rely on themselves, spend their free time wisely, become responsible people and able to put their skills to the best use by working in an extracurricular manner. The program was officially launched on August 6th, 2003. Interested students can enroll by calling Human Resource Division, Resource Management Department at 0-2828-5093 and 0-2828-5099 or visit www.ktc.co.th. For more information, please contact Public and Corporate Affairs Department “KTC” or Krungthai Card Public Company Limited Kandtharat Chermchitphong Tel. 0-2828-5057 Suchada Weerasakulrak Tel. 0-2828-5732 Prapatporn Chumchuwat Tel. 0-2828-5401 Fax. 0-2828-5046 E-mail: [email protected]