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The Kingdom of Thailand, located in Southeast Asia on the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, shares boundaries with Myanmar (Burma) on the west and northwest, Laos on the east and northeast, Cambodia on the southeast, and Malaysia on the south. Thailand has existed as a unified monarchy since 1350. The capital, Bangkok, an attractive blend of Western and Thai architecture, was established in 1782.
Moreover, while poverty has markedly improved over the last four decades, income distribution has worsened. Despite the evidence of the rapidly improving living standard of among all Thai people, there is also many more poor, especially in the northeast area. (Click here for Average Ratio of poor people in Thailand) This gap between the poor and the wealthy is getting larger, and the distribution from the past development process is unequal.
At present, the legal framework of education in Thailand is based on the 1997 Constitution and the 1999 National Education Act. They provide principles and challenging guidelines for the provision and development of Thai education in order to prepare all Thai people for a learning society in a knowledge-based economy.
Education will be provided in three types: formal, non-formal, and informal education. Formal education is divided into 2 levels: basic education and higher education, with 9 years compulsory education (Grade 1-9).
There are three major government agencies responsible for the provision and development of education in Thailand: the National Education Commission, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of University Affairs. The National Education Commission is mainly responsible for the educational policies, planning and research at the national level. The Ministry of Education is responsible for the provision of basic education nationwide, while the Ministry of University Affairs is responsible for the management of state universities.
 
Basic education comprises early childhood education, compulsory education which is now legally mandated as 9 years instead of 6 years as before. The compulsory education is provided free of charge from government schools. However, from our working experience in remote areas for more than 17 years, most children still do not attend a school after finishing their primary school. This is because the effect of developed inequality and poverty that makes the parents unable to support the school supplies, food, and the living expenses, which are not covered by the government’s mandate.
Mostly, these rural students live by subsistence farming in a hostile landscape shattered, in season, by both flood and drought. Malnutrition and extreme poverty are ordinary.
In Isan (northeastern Thailand) the average per capital income is $350 per annual, about one third of the average for the rest of the Kingdom. Children are needed to work on the land to help with their family's struggle for survival. In these circumstances, the education that could be the key to their future becomes an unaffordable luxury. Thus, most of students who finish their primary school tend to quit their secondary school in order to help their families.
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