Basic education in Thailand extends from grades 1-12. It consists of six years of primary education, three years of lower secondary, and three years of upper secondary education. The entry age into basic education is at the age of 6. Free and compulsory education spans for nine years from primary to lower secondary. Students can choose vocational tracks in upper secondary schools (sometimes also in lower secondary schools) (UNESCO 2011). Primary education is close to universal in Thailand. The gross enrolment ratio in lower secondary education is over 90% and for upper secondary education it is about 60% in 2010. Equality in terms of gender parity index (GPI) is impressive, with almost 1:00 for every level of basic education (UIS n.d.).
Access to primary and lower secondary education is very high except amongst the most vulnerable groups such as children of migrant workers, urban migrants without house registrations and from diverse ethnic communities in remote areas of the country. Thailand succeeded to increase the enrolment in secondary education by offering loans to students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. For students living in remote areas far from the nearest secondary school, bicycles are provided and scholarships are granted to some students (UNESCO 2011).
At both primary and secondary levels, the quality of education is a key problem despite successful increase in participation. National tests in primary schools and the results from international studies show unsatisfactory performance. In the primary education sub-sector, a major contemporary issue is the shortage of qualified and trained teachers and a lack of incentives to encourage excellent teachers to work in remote areas, especially in teaching Mathematics, Science and English language. Large numbers of small-size schools due to low birth rates and increasing number of students attending better-endowed schools in urban areas also affect the quality of education provision. Shortages of teachers, inadequate per-student funding and shortage of learning materials especially in subjects that require the use of information and communication technologies are the major factors that undermine the equitable provision of quality education. The quality of primary education varies significantly by geographic locations, which explains the wide disparities in educational attainment of students. In secondary schools, class sizes are quite high. The quality of English language instruction is also very weak (UNESCO 2011).
After the major educational reforms initiated in 1999, primary education is now administered jointly with secondary education as part of basic education. At the local level, public primary schools fall under the authority of Educational Service Areas (ESAs) and the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) at the Ministry level. There are 185 of ESAs in the country across 76 provinces. Education is mainly financed by the national budget although LAOs are encouraged to mobilize local resources for education. Since 2002, The National Education Act (NEA) obligated the state to provide general subsidies based on per-student expenditures for basic 12-year education. The funds were allocated directly to schools through Educational Service Areas (ESAs) in block grants. The NEA set the framework for decentralization of authority over curricula and spending to local authorities in order to make education more responsive to local needs. (UNESCO 2011)
According to NEA, the Basic Education Commission will prescribe the core curricula for basic education and curricular substance relating to the needs of the community and the society will be prescribed by educational institutions (ONEC 1999).
The government’s top priority in primary and secondary education is to develop quality and standards. The government also gives high priority to expanding basic educational opportunity to all Thai people and improve the quality of teaching personnel. At secondary education level the goal is to attain universal lower secondary education, increase access to upper secondary education, and increase the percentage of students who follow the vocational track. Many national strategies are set out to achieve these goals. For example, to deal with shortage of teaching personnel, implementation of increase in per-head block grants for basic education as well as initiation of a national reading campaign, implementation of “morality-based knowledge” in primary education, etc (UNESCO 2011).
