Thailand education’s effort has been given a high mark in the past many years with continuing progress on key education indicators toward achieving the internationally agreed Education for All Goals by 2015. This includes the government’s figure of high enrollment rate in compulsory education, a high percentage of female students in education system, a high adult literacy rate and a relatively high coverage rate of pre-primary education. However, Thailand cannot be complacent with its education progress as a closer scrutiny reveals a number of gaps in education figures which need to be urgently addressed.

Despite the right to free, quality basic education of 12 years being guaranteed in the last Constitution, an estimate of 1.4 million school aged children and youth were not enrolled in basic education during the 2005 Academic Year. The figure rose to 1.9 million if this included numbers of children who did not have access to pre-primary education. One factor limiting access to education especially among the poor children is the cost of education. While education fees have been abolished under the law, there are other user fees which parents have to pay to enable their children to have access to an education. A survey by a Civil Society Coalition for Education carried out last year indicated that over 80% of families from poor or disadvantaged background still have to pay for their children’s education. The average expense for education was 6,000-8,000 Baht per child for a school year during compulsory education. (This figure is a low estimate – for public school). Although the figure may seem small compare to those families who send their kids to fancy private school, the amount can be a big burden for a poor family. Also, sending their children to schools can also mean a loss in income if those children could otherwise help parents earn a living.

There are also other factors which prevent children from exercising their right to education. There is an estimated of 1.47 million so-called disadvantaged children in Thailand. These numbers include 12 categories of children such as abandoned/ orphan children, children affected by HIV/AIDS, hill-tribes children and those from other ethnic group, children with disabilities and children from poor families. About three forth of them were estimated to be deprived of a right to education. Lack of birth registration or citizenship, discrimination by teachers and peers as well as a lack of an education curriculum which is appropriate for the local context or ways of lives for some groups of population are some of the factors limiting access to education for children living in Thailand.

Quality education is another issue of major concern. Over 15,000 schools have been reported to be in the coma, affecting the quality of education of around 4.5 million students who go to mostly small rural schools. The education index shows disparity in equity and quality of education between different geographical areas of the country with provinces with lowest score concentrating in the Northeast which major provinces such as Bangkok, Phuket and Chonburi. It is also important to note that over 60% of Thailand workforce has only primary education or less.

Despite the relatively high figure (96%) of adult literacy presented by the government, an assessment by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that 37% of 15-year-old students were performing at a level indicative of very low reading abilities. The trend becomes worse among children from ethnic minority groups, migrant populations and other marginalized groups.

Thailand needs to pay attention to the disparity and increasing inequality in education between different groups of people. It is not so helpful anymore to look at the average figure as this does not point to the gap which will need to be addressed. The government needs to acknowledge and identify those “unreached” and develop appropriate measures to enabling them to exercise their right to free, quality basic education. To move forward, Thailand can also no longer compare itself with other lower income countries as its development level has reached that of a middle income country. Greater investment in and more effective management of the education system along with a more coherent strategy and mechanism of delivering education will be an important factor to further progress in education.