The Education Ministry has drawn up four strategies in response to Thai students’ dismal performance in the latest international rankings.
Though Thailand climbed five spots to rank 53rd out of 91 countries in the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA 2025), the nation’s students still fall below the international average. PISA 2025 assessed more than 760,000 students across the 91 countries.
The assessment evaluates the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science every three years, providing a data-driven comparison that countries can use to strengthen their education systems.
“Our plans are directly based on the PISA results,” Peerawit Khantisuk, an adviser to Education Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong, told Thai PBS World in a recent interview.
“We are focusing on what PISA is telling us about our education system.”
To address these shortcomings, the ministry's four-pronged strategy targets educational inequality through funding and student retention, the creation of a data-driven management system to ease teacher workloads, enhanced school safety and mental health support, and a new curriculum prioritising critical thinking and competency-based learning.
Addressing inequality
Peerawit blamed Thailand’s low ranking on the huge performance gap between well-equipped institutions – like demonstration schools – and less well-funded rural and vocational schools. Students from the specialised schools averaged around 600 points in the PISA tests, he noted, whereas those from vocational schools scored slightly over 300.
“It is this inequality that we need to address.”
Closing this gap is now a major priority for the Education Ministry, which has announced plans to increase per-head subsidies for small schools and those serving low-income families.
While PISA 2025 highlights the strong support that Thai teachers provide, this student-centred approach is not reflected in state funding. In contrast, countries like New Zealand direct higher funding to schools serving vulnerable students, including children from disadvantaged backgrounds or whose parents are in prison.
Peerawit also disclosed that his ministry will study high-performing rural schools in order to create a model for success that can be replicated nationwide. At the same time, underprivileged children who excel academically will be targeted to prevent them from dropping out of school due to financial hardship or family troubles.
Alongside this structural support, the ministry plans to overhaul school curriculum, shifting away from rote learning towards critical thinking and practical problem-solving.
Building a data-driven system
Under the new strategy, data like grades and attendance records will be streamlined and digitised to cut the administrative burden on teachers, leaving them more time to spend with their students.
“Our efforts have met stiff resistance, but we are pushing ahead,” Peerawit said, adding that some schools are already piloting big data solutions in line with the ministry’s vision. As the initiative expands, authorities aim to eradicate the one-size-fits-all model of national education management.
“With efficient data usage, we can track potential dropouts and make accurate forecasts, paving the way for timely intervention,” he said.
From early next year, the Education Ministry will link its backend system with real-time data via the ThaiID application, supported by artificial intelligence and digital platforms.
“This means teachers will have less paperwork to handle,” Peerawit said.
School safety and mental health
To combat the growing crisis of bullying in classrooms and online, the ministry is partnering with Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Psychology to develop peer-to-peer teaching and support networks.
“Cyberbullying is rife, with Thailand on the verge of entering the top 10 countries affected by this crisis,” Peerawit stated. He noted that victims often suffer severe emotional distress that causes them to skip school, leading to a dramatic decline in academic performance.
“To tackle this problem, we have established a dedicated rights protection centre,” he said, adding that its immediate priority is equipping students with resilience against bullying. The centre would also support students suffering mental-health issues like severe stress, he said.
PISA 2025 revealed that most Thai schools already had a peer-to-peer tutoring system in place, but Peerawit said this system would be expanded to cover children’s emotional well-being.
Since classmates are often the first to notice changes in a distressed student’s behaviour, proper training will help them recognise warning signs and call for assistance early.
“We are currently in discussion with Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Psychology on how best to leverage the existing system,” he added.
Expert recommendations
Prof Sompong Jitradub, a prominent educator and former lecturer at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Education, called on authorities to first check whether Thai students’ improved score in the PISA 2025 was a result of structural change in the education system.
“If the answer is yes, then the ministry is on the right track. But if the improved ranking was due to last-minute tutoring, then those gains will not be sustainable,” he said.
Sompong added that his scepticism was triggered when the Thai 15-year-olds tested in PISA 2025 scored relatively high for reading, despite many of their contemporaries being functionally illiterate.
“It should also be noted that many of the Thai students’ scores were still 40 or 50 points below average,” he said. “The country still has a long way to go in developing its human capital.”
Sompong pointed out that most of the high scorers came from well-equipped schools or specialised institutions in big cities. Meanwhile, government efforts to promote competency-based learning were progressing too slowly to generate a tangible impact, he added.
To drive meaningful change, Sompong urged the government to revive the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)-based curriculum and introduce a more practical “learn by doing” approach for students.
For instance, schools could teach students basic skills in the morning followed by STEM projects or activities based on their interests in the afternoon. Such methods would allow students to apply what they have learned but also give them a chance to pick up life skills.
“Last but not least, Thai education urgently needs bureaucratic reform. Teachers’ academic rankings and salary upgrades should be tied to student development rather than administrative paperwork,” he said.
By Thai PBS World’s General Desk
