2025-07-27 · Education
How Free Is Free Education in Thailand?
The constitution promises 12 years free, but hidden costs and legal gaps mean it isn't free in practice.
As a child, I studied at Satit Kaset, and my parents paid fees as usual, so at first I didn’t really understand the idea of free education. Then I grew up and went to study in America, where friends told me that public schools there are free, with no tuition, and parents pay only for supplies or extra activities. That’s when I finally understood: oh, free education really means free.
When I started working in education, I began to notice that “free education” in Thailand looks different. It isn’t 100% free the way people understand it.
In principle, should education be “free”? The Thai constitution (Section 54) says the state must provide basic education to the people for 12 years without charge. There is also the “15 years of free education” policy (kindergarten to Grade 12), for which the government budgets support such as learning materials, uniforms, and books. But the scope of “free” is education within the basic core curriculum, for which state schools must not charge tuition.
The “free education isn’t really free” issue that people raise is specific to state schools under OBEC, local administrative organizations, and Bangkok. Private schools and demonstration (satit) schools, even those under state universities, are outside the free education framework, because they are considered schools in a special or experimental system, which usually charge tuition and fees as normal.
By the constitution, Thai children should get 12 years of free education. But in reality, state schools still have hidden costs such as school maintenance contributions, activity fees, internet fees, and field trip fees. These come from a legal gap, especially the Council of State’s opinion in 2008, which opened the way for schools to charge activity fees, stating that if education is provided “outside the curriculum,” it is not the state’s responsibility. And these voluntary extracurricular activities aren’t clearly defined as to what they are or what they include. Even though they are called voluntary, in reality most parents can’t refuse.
A system like this creates inequality without anyone noticing. Families who can afford it are ready to support their children in every activity, while low-income families have to cut these activities out. It turns out that the quality of children’s learning is unequal from within state schools, even though the policy announces that it’s free.
How free should “free education” in Thailand be? Are we ready to make state schools have no mandatory costs at all?
What should equal education look like in Thai society?