City Report and Action Plan

Khon Kaen

Mr. Suphat Laochai
School Director, Education Administration, Education Bureau
Khon Kaen Municipality
Thailand

CITY REPORT

Education System

There are three types of education available in Thailand: formal, non-formal, and informal.

• Formal education shall specify the aims, methods, curricula, duration, assessment, and evaluation conditional to its completion
• Non-formal education shall have flexibility in determining the aims and modalities
• Informal education shall enable learners to learn by themselves according to their interests, potentialities, readiness and opportunities available from persons, society, environment, media, or other sources of knowledge.

Educational institutions are authorized to provide either one or all of three types of education.

The Ministry of Education shall prescribe the criteria and procedure for assessing the readiness of the local administration organizations to provide education. The Ministry shall be responsible for co-ordination and promotion of the local administration organizations' capability to provide education in line with the policies and standards required. It shall also advise on the budgetary allocations for education provided by local administration organizations.

Formal education aims at the full development of the Thai people in all aspects: physical and mental health; intellect; knowledge; morality; integrity; and desirable way of life so as to be able to live happily with other people. Formal education is divided into two levels: basic education and higher education. Basic Education is that which is provided for 12 years, grades 1 - 12, before higher education.

Compulsory education shall be for nine years, requiring children aged seven to enroll in basic education institutions until the age of 16 with the exception of those who have already completed grade 9.

There are mobilization of resources and investment in terms of budgetary allocation, financial support and properties from the State; local administration organization; individuals; families; communities; community organization; private persons; private organizations; professional bodies; religious institutions; enterprises; other social institutions; and foreign country involvement, for use in the provision of education.

In respect to primary education, the Basic Education Commission prescribed core curricula for basic education for purposes of preserving Thai identity, good citizenship, desirable way of life, livelihood, as well as for further education

The target and aim of the education system is the provision of education to all individuals. Each individual shall have equal rights and opportunities to receive basic education provided by the State for the duration of at least 12 years. Such education, provided on a nationwide basis, shall be of quality and free of charge.

Education shall be based on the principle that all learners are capable of learning and self-development, and are regarded as being important. The teaching-learning process shall aim at enabling the learners to develop themselves at their own pace and to the best of their potentiality.

The National Standard of School Facilities includes several minimum provisions for suitable facilities including the number of teachers per student at 1 teacher@/ 25 students as well as toilet facilities of one seat per 50 students.

The school year and term starts in May and ends in March. It has 2 terms. The first begins on May 16th and ends on October 10th. The second term starts on November 1st and ends on March 31st.

Primary school goals include:

• The provision of learning and teaching in according to children's need and potentiality
• The provision of learning and teaching in and integrated
• To build and facilitate outside learning resources
• To mobilize and encourage lifelong education
• The provision of learning and teaching to recognize and love their hometown

Current States and Challenges

The great economic downturn of 1997 hurt Khon Kaen as it did all of Thailand. This left many people poor, out of work, and bewildered after more than three decades of steady and recently very rapid economic growth. Unfortunately, these rapid changes have crested serious social problems such as;

• Homeless and labor-force unemployment
• Children working in garbage collection: Among other problems caused by children in this work-force, is theft from homes in the communities,
• Teenager drug addiction: Also seen on the rise is drug abuse among teenagers who prowl the roads at night, committing crimes and fighting each other,
• Increase in slum conditions: The influx of villagers from the provinces seeking employment in the city has increased an already big problem of overcrowded slum conditions in Khon Kaen.

This situation has given rise to about 100 homeless children in the City of Khon Kaen.

ACTION PLAN