A total of 52,808 students dropped out during the second semester of the 2022 academic year, according to Education Permanent Secretary Atthaphon Sangkhawasee.

Of those, 21,364 are from schools under the Office of the Basic Education Commission, 7,138 from schools under the Office of Private Education Promotion Commission, 2,428 from schools under local administrative organisations, 897 from schools operated by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and 20,981 vocational students.

No reasons were provided as to why the students dropped out.

There are about 10.4 million students under the Office of the Basic Education Commission and 2.1 million students under the Office of the Private Education Promotion Commission. Moreover, there are 1.7 million students who are outside the jurisdiction of the Education Ministry.

According to the ministry, there are 665,620 teachers under the ministry’s jurisdiction. These include 457,222 under the Office of the Basic Education Commission.

According to the ministry’s estimate, more than 11,000 teachers are due to retire each year for the next ten years, with about 19,000 to retire this year and about 17,000 next.

To cope with the number of retirees, Atthaphon said the ministry has to develop a plan to increase the recruitment of new teachers to replace those who retire.