Thai Non-Formal Education director-general Athorn Chantawimon said the tuskers would be ridden by teachers and used to haul books, televisions and satellite dishes to remote areas as a cheap alternative to cars.

"If we decide against buying just one car, two to three thousand more people will learn how to read and write," Athorn was quoted as saying in The Bangkok Post on Saturday.

Elephants would also be able to reach rural areas in northern provinces such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son that are generally inaccessible to vehicles or helicopters, he added.

Athorn said about three million Thais, mostly in the north, cannot read or write, according to a recent United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) study.

The first caravan in the elephant-assisted literacy campaign will wend its way to 68 villages in northern Chiang Mai province beginning on November 26 before the project launches in southern Thailand, the report said.