Thailand is preparing a draft law to decentralise its education system, aiming to increase efficiency, administrative flexibility, and responsiveness to the fast-changing labour market.
Due before the Cabinet in the next few weeks, the National Education Bill addresses critical needs across Thailand's education sector, starting from pre-school all the way through to higher degrees.
The fruit of efforts by multiple government agencies and policymakers, the bill features a flexible budgeting system and decentralisation to empower local decision-making, while also removing administrative and non-teaching burdens from educators so they can focus on their students.
"The new legislation is needed so we can keep pace with a fast-changing world," according to Education Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong.
In effect since 1999, the current National Education Act guarantees 12 years of state-funded basic education to all Thai citizens but has faced heavy criticism.
The existing framework relies heavily on rote learning, while also imposing hidden costs that have resulted in a high dropout rate and education inequality. Critics say it also fails to align with changing labour market demands shaped by global technological disruption.
Prasert claims the new bill will sweep away these hurdles, opening a wider horizon of opportunities for new Thai graduates.
What does the new bill promise?
The new education blueprint will hand state schools greater autonomy in administration, personnel management, budgeting/finance and the curriculum. Schools will receive their budget as a lump sum, giving them power to channel resources where they best meet local children's needs.
The new law also imposes strict oversight to ensure that decentralisation does not compromise good governance and accountability.
Meanwhile, teachers will no longer be tasked with peripheral duties like procuring learning materials, so they can concentrate fully on teaching, guiding and supervising students. "This bill is designed to minimise the burden of unnecessary tasks currently borne by educators," Prasert said.
The bill also promotes student-centred learning, giving children opportunities to choose course pathways based on their personal interests. "This legislation will officially recognise alternative forms of learning," the minister confirmed.
Additionally, the bill will establish a National Educational Policy Commission to guide the long-term trajectory of Thailand's education sector amid the rapidly shifting technological landscape.
What else does it offer?
Asst Prof Athapol Anunthavorasakul, an education lecturer at Chulalongkorn University who helped draft the new bill, told Thai PBS World that the new legislation was not designed to restructure education, but to overhaul the entire sector.
"It lays down a legal foundation for a new system," he said, highlighting new national policies that will forge effective coordination between various education-related agencies.
Comprising 82 articles plus a provisional chapter containing 12 articles, the National Education Bill neither abolishes existing agencies nor repeals current laws such as the Higher Education Act and Early Childhood Development Act.
Instead, new policies crafted by the National Educational Policy Commission will bring together key authorities – including the ministries of Education, Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation as well as Labour, Interior and Social Development and Human Security – to work on the education sector.
"Providing educational services and developing a new workforce should not be the sole responsibility of the Education Ministry," Athapol said.
Education Ministry permanent secretary Prawit Erawan identified the historic lack of inter-agency collaboration as a key reason behind the systemic failure of Thailand's education sector.
"All 40 agencies across the 10 education-related ministries work separately," he noted.
Athapol stated that government agencies, teacher-training institutes and schools should also work together to produce a strong teaching force.
"Universities train teachers who later become civil servants at the Education Ministry. Yet these groups rarely co-design plans to meet actual classroom needs," he said, noting that the country currently has a surplus of teachers in some subjects.
"We need a unified system for producing, developing and recruiting teachers," Athapol said.
In addition, the draft bill stipulates that any policies or supervisory rules issued by central authorities must not obstruct teaching.
"For instance, external school assessments should not become an administrative burden for teachers," Athapol said.
He added that initial surveys indicate the majority of teachers have a positive opinion of the bill.
Advice from experts
However, opinion among education experts is divided.
Prominent educator Prof Sompong Jitradub warned that the National Education Bill will not provide an immediate cure for the country's ailing education sector.
"It's just a master plan, there's a lot more left to be done," he said, adding that the authorities must also draft secondary laws and ministerial decrees to support the legislation once it clears Parliament.
"Passing a new law does not mean the entire sector is automatically reformed," he said.
The Cabinet is set to review the new bill before the end of November before it is forwarded to Parliament. The first reading is expected to take place before December 22, when the legislature goes into recess.
Sompong praised the 1999 National Education Act for promoting lifelong learning, educational flexibility, options to store or transfer academic credits and accountability, but said implementation was its weak point.
"It's high time we learned from our failures, so we stop repeating the same mistakes," Sompong said.
Asst Prof Adisorn Juntrasook, who heads Thammasat University's Faculty of Learning Sciences and Education, agreed. He said the new education law should also help teachers efficiently prepare students to work with artificial intelligence (AI) and in diverse conditions.
Thailand's global targets
Prasert said his ambition is to elevate Thai students from passive participants to active thinkers capable of becoming movers and shakers in the global stage.
The reform push comes as Thailand is preparing to host the Unesco Global Education Meeting next year, bringing together international education leaders and students.
Looking further ahead, by 2028 Thailand aims to lead the ASEAN Zero Dropout agenda to ensure every child in Southeast Asia remains in school. The country has been rolling out a competency-based curriculum since 2023 and aims to establish a comprehensive lifelong learning ecosystem by 2030.
By Thai PBS World’s General Desk
