Country’s Name | Kingdom of Thailand |
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National Flag | |
Name of Capital City | Bangkok |
Number of Population | 67,091,089 (July 2012) |
National Language | Thai |
National Religion | Buddhism |
Life Expectancy |
Male: 71 years
Female: 78 years
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Literacy Rate | 92.6% (2010) |
Percentage of People Living under the Poverty Line | 8.1% (2009 est.) |
Ethnic Minority Groups | Thai 75%, Chinese 14%, other 11% |
Total Country’s Area | 513,115 sq km |
Number of Provinces | 77 provinces |
Seasons/Climate | 3 seasons (summer, rainy season and dry season) |
Compulsory Education: 12 years (Kindergarten - Lower Secondary School)
Level of Education | Years of Studying | Age range of students |
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Kindergarten | 3 | 4 - 6 |
Preparatory/Preschool | 3 | 4 - 6 |
Primary | 6 | 7 -12 |
Lower Secondary School | 3 | 13 - 15 |
High School | 3 | 16 - 18 |
Vocational School | 3 | Vary |
University (Bachelor’s Degree) | 4 - 6 | 19 - 24 |
First Semester | 16th May to 11th October |
Second Semester | 1st November to 1st April |
First Semester Break | 12th to 30th October |
Second Semester Break | 2nd April to 15th May |
Level | Percentage of Enrollment Rate | Percentage of Dropout Rate | |
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Primary Education | 100 | 1.13 | |
Secondary Education | Lower Secondary | 99.47 | 2.43 |
Upper Secondary | 85.79 | 2.16 |
1. School Dropout
Disadvantaged people still cannot support their children’s education until their children complete their school due to a lack of income. Although the government has been largely investing in the education sector by promoting free education, the cost of school is still too onerous for many families to handle. As such, many are forced to out of schools in order to work and support their family.
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2. Government Education Inequality
The budget allocated for education in rural areas is much less than that of cities and teachers in these schools also tend to be less qualified.
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3. Quality of Education
The evaluation of the overall quality of education in the rural area (National Examinations) in a primary school, lower secondary school and high school is lower than that of many developing countries, especially in subjects such as Mathematics, Science, English and Social Studies. One of the reasons is an atmosphere in the classroom in which students are not encouraged to learn and think by themselves.
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4. Shortage of Teachers in Rural Schools
Most qualified teachers want to work in a school located in a city, and people who are highly qualified and competent to work in the academic field do not want to become teachers because of the low income associated with such positions. Thus academic institutions inevitably are forced to recruit less qualified personnel. Moreover, according to the school quality assurance system, teachers have to spend considerable time preparing documentation for evaluations, so the time for developing teaching methodology is greatly reduced.
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Year | Number of School |
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1988 - 2012 | 4,780 |
Pictures of Thai rural students commuting to school | |