Education in Thailand

It is possible that one of the earliest forms of education began when King Ram Khamhaeng the Great invented the Thai alphabet in 1283 basing it on Mon, Khmer, and southern Indian scripts. Stone inscriptions from 1292 in the new script depict moral, intellectual and cultural aspects.[9] During the Sukhothai period (1238–1378), education was dispensed by the Royal Institution of Instruction (Rajabundit) to members of the royal family and the nobility, while commoners were taught by Buddhist monks.

In the period of the Ayutthaya kingdom from 1350 to 1767 during the reign of King Narai the Great (1656–1688), the Chindamani, generally accepted as the first textbook of the Thai language, collating the grammar. The prosody of Thai language and official forms of correspondence was written by a monk, Pra Horatibodi, in order to stem the foreign educational influence of the French Jesuit schools It remained in use up to King Chulalongkorn's reign (1868–1910). Narai himself was a poet, and his court became the center where poets congregated to compose verses and poems. Although through his influence interest in Thai literature was significantly increased, Catholic missions had been present with education in Ayutthaya as early as 1567 under Portuguese Dominicans and French Jesuits were given permission to settle in Ayutthaya in 1662. His reign therefore saw major developments in diplomatic missions to and from Western powers.

On Narai's death, fearing further foreign interference in Thai education and culture, and conversion to Catholicism, xenophobic sentiments at court increased and diplomatic activities were severely reduced and ties with the West and any forms of Western education were practically severed. They did not recover their former levels until the reign of King Mongkut in the mid-nineteenth century.

Through his reforms of the Buddhist Sangha, King Rama I (1782–1809), accelerated the development of public education and during the reign of King Rama IV (1851–1865) the printing press arrived in Thailand making books available in the Thai language for the first time; English had become the lingua franca of the Far East, and the education provided by the monks was proving inadequate for government officials. Rama IV decreed that measures be taken to modernise education and insisted that English would be included in the curriculum.

King Rama V (1868–1910) continued to influence the development of education and in 1871 the first relatively modern concept of a school with purpose constructed building, lay teachers and a time-table was opened in the palace to teach male members of the royal family and the sons of the nobility. The Command Declaration on Schooling was proclaimed, English was being taught in the palace for royalty and nobles, and schools were set up outside the palace for the education of commoners’ children. With the aid of foreign - mainly English - advisers a Department of Education was established by the king in 1887 by which time 34 schools, with over 80 teachers and almost 2,000 students, were in operation and as part of the king’s programme to establish ministries, in 1892 the department became the Ministry of Education. Recognizing that the private sector had come to share the tasks of providing education, the government introduced controls for private schools.

In 1897 on the initiative of Queen Sribajarindra, girls were admitted into the educational system. In 1898, a two-part education plan for Bangkok and for the provinces was launched with programmes for pre-school, elementary, secondary, technical, and higher education. In 1901, the first government school for girls, the Bamrung Wijasatri, was set up in Bangkok, and in 1913, the first teacher training school for women was set up at the Benchama Rajalai School for girls. Further developments took place when in 1902 the plan was remodeled by National System of Education in Siam into the two categories of general education, and professional/ technical education, imposing at the same time age limits for admission to encourage graduation within predetermined time scales.

The first Thai university, Chulalongkorn, was named after King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). It was established by his son and successor King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) in 1917 by combining the Royal Pages School and the College of Medicine.[10] In 1921, the Compulsory Elementary Education Act was proclaimed.

Thailand has a particular interpretation of education for sustainable development (ESD) as the ‘philosophy of sufficiency economy’ has played a leading role in shaping policy, including the National Economic and Social Development Plan and the National Education Act. ESD is highly integrated into the curriculum of primary and secondary education in Thailand through the framework of sufficiency economy. The National Curriculum of Thailand, which integrates the country’s ‘philosophy of sufficiency economy’, is an important case in point. Since 2002, the country’s education plan has promoted the inclusion of ESD in five distinct ways. First, ESD topics and content are incorporated into the eight main subject areas of the curriculum, with ESD learning standards defined in a scaffolded manner for each subject area. Second, student character development is defined by eight characteristics including active learning, sufficiency lifestyle and public mindedness. Third, the plan aims to provide specific project-based learning activities, such as natural preservation and environmental clubs and camps. Fourth, ESD-specific learning modules are developed and incorporated, such as renewable energy or the philosophy of sufficiency economy. Fifth, following structural reforms in 2008, Thailand now has a 30 per cent inclusion rate across the entire curriculum for decentralized, locally based subjects and teaching. These should address topics pertinent to the local context and often include issues relating to sustainable lifestyles and the sufficiency economy.[11]

In 1995, the minister of education, Sukavich Rangsitpol, launched a series of education reforms in 1995 with the goal of achieving educational excellence by 2007.[12]

According to UNESCO, Thailand education reform has led to the following results:

• The educational budget increased from 133 billion baht in 1996 to 163 billion baht in 1997 (22.5% increase)
• Since 1996, first grade students have been taught English as a second or foreign language and computer literacy.
• Professional advancement from teacher level 6 to teacher level 7 without having to submit academic work for consideration was approved by the Thai government.
• Free 12 years education for all children provided by the government. This program was added to the 1997 Constitution of Thailand and gave access to all citizens.[13]
• School-based management (SBM) in Thailand began in 1997 in the course of a reform aimed at overcoming a profound crisis in the education system.[14]

Prayut Chan-o-cha, Thailand's prime minister and junta leader, said in 2017 that school reform was urgently needed.[15] Following the military takeover of May 2014, Prayut, in a televised broadcast in July, ordered schools to display a list of 12 "Thai" values he composed.[16] They are:

1. Loyalty to the Nation, a Religion, and the Monarchy
2. Honesty, sacrifice, endurance, and noble ideology for the greater good
3. Gratitude for parents, guardians, and teachers
4. Diligence in acquiring knowledge, via school studies and other methods
5. Preserving the Thai customs and tradition
6. Morality and good will toward others
7. Correct understanding of democracy with the King as Head of State
8. Discipline, respect for law, and obedience to the older citizens
9. Constant consciousness to practice good deeds all the time, as taught by His Majesty the King
10. Practice of Self-Sufficient Economy in accordance with the teaching of His Majesty the King
11. Physical and mental strength. Refusal to surrender to religious sins.
12. Uphold the interest of the nation over oneself.

Authorities instructed public schools and state agencies to hang a banner listing Gen Prayut's teachings on their premises. State agencies have also produced a poem, song, and 12-part film based on the teachings. In late-December 2014, the Ministry of Information, Communication, and Telecommunications (MICT) released a set of "stickers" depicting each of the Twelve Values for users of the chat application LINE.

The military government under Prayut Chan-o-cha instituted a "land defender battalion" program to teach uniformed children aged four and five to do push-ups, crawl under netting, salute, and eat from metal trays on the floor. "Soldiers showed children military operations and taught them patriotic values to love the nation, religions, and the Thai monarchy through the...12 Thai Values," according to the Thai-language news outlet Matichon Online. The news site reported that this is the second time that the Royal Thai Army has run the program, and said that many more schools and kindergartens will join the program in the future.[17]

A 2015 survey by the Ministry of Public Health found the average IQ of Thai students to be 93, down from 94 in 2011, and below the international standard of 100.[18]

One cause of lower IQs might be nutrition, specifically iodine deficiency.[18]

In July 2015, the Thai Department of Health initiated a program to provide better nutrition and health education at Thai public schools. Its aims are to increase average IQ from 94 to 100 and boost the average height of children. Currently boys measure on average 167 cm and girls 157 cm. Over the 10-year life of the program heights are targeted to increase to 175 cm and 165 cm respectively. Children at schools across the country will receive healthier meals and more instruction on healthy living and exercise.[19]

In 2015, a World Bank study concluded that "...one-third of 15-year-old Thais are 'functionally illiterate'", including almost half of those studying in rural schools.[15] The bank suggested that Thailand reform its education system partly through merging and optimising its more than 20,000 schools nationwide. The alternative is hiring 160,000 more teachers for up-country schools in order to match Bangkok's teacher-student ratios.[20] The Economist notes that, "Thailand's dismal performance is not dramatically out of step with countries of similar incomes. But it is strange given its unusually generous spending on education, which in some years has hoovered up more than a quarter of the budget. Rote learning is common. There is a shortage of maths and science teachers, but a surfeit of physical-education instructors. Many head teachers lack the authority to hire or fire their own staff."[15]

In May 2012, parents and students at the prestigious Bodindecha (Sing Singhaseni) School, commonly referred to as "Bodin", in Bangkok staged a hunger strike to protest what they viewed as admissions irregularities. The issue arose when 200 Bodin students were denied the right to continue their studies at the school at the end of the 2011 school year. The students suspected that school executives had taken away their seats to give to children of parents willing to pay huge sums of "tea money" or bribes.[21] Admission to popular schools can cost "tea money" sums up to seven figures. The greater the competition, the higher the amount of donations the parents believe they have to offer in exchange for their children's chances to get a good education at a quality school.[22]

Thai society holds teachers in high regard as evidenced by naming one day of the year as "Teacher's Day."[23] "Thai teachers, as well as university lecturers, are not as well paid as their colleagues in Malaysia or Singapore, not to mention those in the United States or Europe," according to the Bangkok Post.[24] This has led to the finding that each Thai teacher may be up to three million baht in debt. The government is taking steps to ameliorate the plight of teachers by refinancing loans owed to "formal" lenders.[24]

Thailand has had 21 education ministers in the past 18 years (2000–2018). Each lasts an average of nine months.[6] The complexity of administration of Thai education gives rise to duplication among the many ministries and agencies providing education and establishing of standards. In 1980, at the recommendation the Minister of Education, Dr. Kayla Sarah Ketudat, responsibility for basic elementary education was moved from the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Education. Both the Ministry of University Affairs and the Ministry of Education have been actively involved in teacher training.[25]

For FY2019 the budget of the Ministry of Education is 487,646 million baht.[26] The Thai national budget allocates considerable resources to education. In FY2017, educational expenditures represented almost 20 percent of the national budget, or four percent of GDP.[27][28] This is high in comparison with the educational expenditures of other countries, especially developing countries, with China at 13 percent, Indonesia 8.1 percent, Malaysia 20 percent, Mexico, 24.3 percent, Philippines 17 percent, the United Kingdom and France, 11 percent. Although education is mainly financed by the national budget, local funds, particularly in urban areas, are spent on education. In the area governed by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), up to 28.1 percent of the educational budget has been provided by local financing. Loans and technical assistance for education are also received from Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) (Japan).

Essential to DVT is the active participation of the private sector. In 1995,[30] the Department of Vocational Education launched an initiative to introduce dual vocational training programmes which involve the students in hand-on training at selected organisations in the private sector.

DVT is a regular element of the DoVE "certificate" and "diploma" program. The training is for a period of three years with more than half of the time devoted to practical training on-the-job, spread over two days a week, or for longer periods depending on the distance, throughout the semesters.

Two levels of DVT are offered: the three-year certificate level for skilled workers where students and trainees are admitted at the age of 15 after completing Matthayom 3 (Grade 9); and the two-year diploma technician level for students who have graduated with the Certificate of Vocational Education after 12 years of formal education.

In the scheme, vocational, unlike regular internships, where students may be assigned to work on unpaid irrelevant jobs, the cooperative education programme enables students of the vocational schools to do field work while benefiting from an allowance to cover living expenses or free accommodation, and compensation for their contributions made to the company's income and profits as temporary employees.

Schools collaborate directly with the private sector in drafting action plans and setting goals for students to meet. Generally, the company will offer permanent employment to the trainees on graduation and successful completion of the programme. Conversely, companies that recruit trainees from among young people who have completed a minimum of nine years at school may enroll their employees with a technical or vocational college where they are taught vocational subjects as the theoretical background to the occupational field in which they are being trained.[31]

As of 2015 there were 674,113 students enrolled in vocational education courses.[32]

Shiro Sadoshima, the Japanese ambassador to Thailand, believes that the Thai government must invest more in education to produce a labour force that can meet the demands of Japanese industry. He noted that while Thailand has a policy to improve vocational skills and cultivate skilled labour, the skills exhibited by Thai workers are not up to Japanese standards. The ambassador's remarks echoed those of major Japanese manufacturers such as Toyota, which has been investing in Thailand for decades. Shuichi Ikeda, chief representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), also voiced concerns that even though Thailand has produced a lot of vocational graduates to serve rising demand for factory workers, those graduates lack required skills. Thailand is expected to produce around 67,000 vocational graduates over the next 10 years but only around 3,100 of them can meet labour standards and get a job, he said.[33]

There are 170 institutions of higher education in Thailand, both public and private, offering 4,100 curricula. For the 2015 academic year, the universities could accommodate 156,216 new students, but only 105,046 applied to take entrance exams. Exacerbating the student shortfall, the National Economic and Social Development Board projects that the number of Thais in the school-age group 0–21 years will fall to 20 percent of the population by 2040, a drop from 62.3 percent in 1980.[34]

Many public universities receive financial support from the government for research purposes. Over half of the provinces have a government-run Rajabhat University (formerly Rajabhat Institutes) and Rajamangala University of Technology, which were traditionally teacher-training colleges.

Thai universities do not score highly in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University rankings and they are losing ground when compared with other Asian universities. Thailand's top three universities, Chulalongkorn, Mahidol, and Thammasat, are trending down. When it was first ranked by QS, Chulalongkorn came in at 201. In 2018 it was ranked 271. Several years ago, Mahidol was ranked 255 but now is ranked 380. Thammasat in 2012 was ranked 561 but has consistently been in the 600s since then.[35]

Some of Thailand's leading universities include:

• Burapha University: First higher education institution outside of Bangkok; in eastern Thailand's industrial region. Humanities and social sciences, logistics, management, and tourism.
• Chiang Mai University: The First institution of higher education in northern Thailand and the first provincial university in the country, offering programs in arts and humanities, health sciences, science and technology, and social sciences.
• Chulalongkorn University: is a comprehensive and research-intensive university, offering programs in arts and humanities, engineering and technology, life sciences and medicine, natural sciences, social sciences, and management.
• Kasetsart University: Originally established as an agricultural college before expanded its subject area to covers a wide range of academic disciplines. It currently offers programs in agriculture, agro-industry, architecture, business administration, economics, education, engineering, environmental science, fisheries, forestry, humanities, science, social sciences, veterinary medicine, and veterinary technology.
• Khon Kaen University: First university in northeastern Thailand. Engineering, education, college of local administration.
• King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang: Best known for programs in electrical engineering, automotive engineering, computer engineering, and architecture.
• King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok: Jointly founded in 1959 by the Royal Thai Government and the Federal Republic of Germany specialised in science and technology, architecture, and engineering.
• King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi: Best known for programs in civil engineering, electrical engineering, and school of energy.
• Mahidol University: Medicine (Siriraj Hospital and Ramathibodi Hospital), pharmacy, veterinary science, medical technology, health sciences
• Prince of Songkla University: First university in southern Thailand. Natural resources, tourism and hospitality, management sciences.
• Silpakorn University: Began as a fine arts university and now includes many other faculties as well.
• Srinakharinwirot University: Education, dentistry, social sciences, and humanities.
• Thammasat University: Established as a specialization and open university in Law, Business, Political Sciences, and Economics before expanded fields to become a national university. Nowadays, offers programs which covered all of social science and humanities, science and technology, and health sciences.[36]

Most bachelor's degree courses are four year, full-time programs. Exceptions are education and architecture that require five years, and the doctor of dental surgery, medicine, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine that require six years of study. Master's degree programs last for either one or two years and the degree is conferred on course credits with either a thesis or a final exam. On completion of a master's degree, students may apply for an admission exam to a two to five year doctoral program. The doctorate is conferred upon completion of coursework, research, and the successful submission of a dissertation. There are at least 1,000 PhD programs offered at 33 Thai universities. The number of PhD students rose to over 25,000 in 2015, up from just 1,380 in 2008.[37]

At present, there are two methods to select students for admission to universities in Thailand. The first method is the direct admission system operated by each university. The second method is the original admission system managed by the National Institute of Education Testing Service (NIETS).[38]

On graduating from high school, students need to pass the CUAS (Central University Admission System) which contains 50% of O-NET and A-NET results and the other half of the fourth level GPA (grade point average). Many changes and experiments in the university admissions system have taken place since 2001, but by late 2007 a nationwide system had yet to be accepted by the students, the universities, and the government. In 2008, the newly formed coalition led by the People's Power Party (a party formed by the remnants of deposed Taksin Shinwatra's Thai Rak Tai party) announced more changes to the national curriculum and university entrance system. At present, state-run universities screen 70% of their students directly, with the remaining 30% coming from the central admission system. The new system gives 20% weight to cumulative grade point average, which varies upon a school's standard. Some students have voiced distrust of the new system and fear it will encounter score counting problems as happened with the A-NET in its first year. The new aptitude test, to be held for the first time in March 2009 and which will be supervised by NIETS, will replace the Advanced National Education Test (A-net). Students may sit for the aptitude test a maximum of three times, with their best scores counted. After the first tests in March 2009, the next two are scheduled for July and October. Direct admissions are normally held around October.

The new test includes the compulsory General Aptitude Test (GAT), which covers reading, writing, analytical thinking, problem solving and English communication, and the voluntary Professional Aptitude Test (PAT).

In 2013, NIETS began to use a clearinghouse system. It is designed to avoid the problem of having the same student be accepted by several universities. After completing the exam and deciding on a university to attend, the student's name will automatically be removed from other university databases and admissions system. Universities currently in the system are Chulalongkorn University, Kasetsart University, Thammasat University, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, and 14 other state universities.

The required qualifications and number of students admitted are established by each university. The qualifications needed for admission vary by university. Some universities require a high GPA and test score. Students with a GPA and test score lower than required cannot apply for admission to that university. Some faculties may add an aptitude test. It depends on the faculty and the university. Students are not required to take the every subject area examination. For example, the faculty of engineering requires mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology, but the faculty of management requires English and mathematics. This is a departure from the original admission system which requires a score in every subject of the O-net test and academic aptitude test (PAT).

Grade point average is an average of the grades received for courses taken.[39]

• 21 Thai
• 22 Social studies, religion, and culture
• 23 Foreign Language
• 24 Mathematics
• 25 Science
• 26 Physical education
• 27 Arts
• 28 Career and Technology

It is composed of O-NET, N-NET, V-NET, and GAT-PAT.

O-NET is a test of basic education. All students at grade 6,9,12 can take O-NET one time.

N-NET is to measure the knowledge to students who are studying in non-formal education at secondary education and high school education.

V-NET is a test to measure the knowledge of vocational students.

General Aptitude Test[40] or GAT is measure of 1. Ability to read, write, and solve problems (50 percent) 2. Ability to communicate in English (50 percent)

Professional and academic aptitude test or PAT is knowledge that is a fundamental to university study.

• PAT 1 math aptitude
• PAT 2 scientific aptitude
• PAT 3 engineering aptitude
• PAT 4 architectural aptitude
• PAT 5 teachers aptitude
• PAT 6 arts aptitude
• PAT 7 foreign language aptitude
  • PAT7.1 French aptitude
  • PAT7.2 German aptitude
  • PAT7.3 Japanese aptitude
  • PAT7.4 Chinese aptitude
  • PAT7.5 Arabic aptitude
  • PAT7.6 Pali aptitude
  • PAT7.7 Korean aptitude