Higher school dropouts due to poor subsidy

There is a rise in dropouts among poorer students. The government’s free education system has to be modified and adjusted so it’s more accessible to lower income families for a quality basic education, said an eminent lecturer at a forum held by the Equitable Education Fund.

The education budget for the 2021 financial year was 76 billion baht but the public spending on education is minimal, according to a lecturer at Thammasat University’s faculty of economics, Chaiyuth Punyasavatsut.

The lecturer proposed two ways to improve educational access by altering the free education system. The first is to raise the number of pupils enrolled between kindergarten and grade 10 (Matthayom 4) which will cost almost 495 million baht. The alternative option is to raise the price for students in grade 7 to 9 (Matthayom 1-3) by 1,000 baht, from 3,000 to 4,000. This would cost 2.34 billion baht.

Public and private schools get government funding for learning materials, student development activities, uniforms, textbooks, and other necessities under the free education system. The policy does not cover pre-school and grades 10 to 12 (Matthayom 4-6). There has been an upsurge in school dropouts among impoverished pupils in recent years.

For the past 13 years, government subsidies have not been changed to match increased costs. With inflation expected to be between 4% and 5% in 2022, an estimated 2.4 million children from extremely poor families would be impacted and may be required to drop out.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post