7 Survival Strategies for Thailand's Education System: "Low Birthrates – Declining Quality" Signals Time for Structural Reform. Researchers highlight the need to create incentives for teachers, design systems that support career growth, and build classrooms where children can experiment with creative thinking.
Preparations are underway to explore survival strategies for Thailand’s education system on the stage of Thairath Newsroom Special: Education Policy Debate 2026, titled “Why Study? Reforming Thailand’s Education to Reclaim the Future” on 16 Jan 2026 GMT+7 from 13:30 to 16:00.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Weerachat Kilenthong, Director of the Institute for Policy Evaluation and Design at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, analyzed Thailand’s education system amid years of continued low birthrates. Research shows Thai children’s IQ declines the longer they study compared to European children. However, this situation presents an opportunity to structurally reform education, summarized as follows.
The issue of incentives exists in every system, especially within bureaucracy. Thus, genuine reform of the bureaucracy must include reforming incentive systems. Crucial is designing education systems that appropriately reward teachers who are dedicated and can truly develop children. Doing so will motivate those within the bureaucracy to work diligently to improve children’s quality. Simultaneously, capable individuals outside teaching will be motivated to join the system.
One key approach to solving incentive problems is decentralization, possibly beginning with local authorities. However, for better results, decentralization should extend directly to parents and children.
An example from international trials is increasing parental roles and authority in school governance alongside educating parents on how to participate effectively. Such experiments have shown quite positive results in both private and rural government schools.
“I believe the current system lacks appropriate incentives to reward the right people. Sometimes dedicated individuals aren’t rewarded, while the less committed receive rewards.”
It is important to understand that education systems are created to develop people, or what is now often called "human capital development." Human capital refers to people’s potential across multiple dimensions, not limited to one aspect.
The core is that human capital comprises many elements, especially intelligence, a fundamental factor, alongside knowledge, understanding, skills learned, and character traits such as determination, cognitive flexibility, acceptance of failure, and patience. These qualities are all important and beneficial for long-term life success. Furthermore, good education should also emphasize learners’ physical and mental health. Therefore, education systems must view human development comprehensively.
Developing children with these well-rounded attributes is an increasing challenge as societal expectations evolve. Whereas grandparents once hoped only for basic literacy, today and in the future, expectations are inevitably higher. Hence, education systems play a vital role in nurturing children to meet society’s more complex demands.
“If people are not healthy, no matter how capable they are, they cannot perform well.”
The concept of "Learning Takes Time" is a fundamental principle applicable to both children and adults. Every time we learn something new, time is always required. Therefore, education system design must be based on understanding how to enable children to learn effectively within time constraints.
The first step in designing a system under this principle is to focus. Learning content is diverse, but not everything needs to be studied intensively. Unnecessary topics might be removed or reduced in importance, while scattered content could be minimized or made more engaging and enjoyable, such as physical education or scout activities, which naturally should be joyful rather than stressful or high-stakes.
However, some content requires serious emphasis because children’s learning must proceed sequentially. Therefore,
education systems should help children access quality learning aligned with these sequences.
“I think this is important because I personally believe learning cannot happen without time and practice.”
Many education policies are often designed based on the context of students in Bangkok. However, rural schools present a clearly different picture. Many children there do not spend as much time on learning as they should. The problems in these two areas are fundamentally opposite.
One thing Thailand’s education system must start doing now is engaging households and encouraging parents to participate in activities with children from an early age before school. This period is a critical "development gap." Starting early equips parents with skills and tools to support their children’s growth continuously and appropriately.
Extensive research confirms early childhood as the most crucial starting point for human capital development. Yet Thailand’s current education system gives less priority to early childhood. It is desirable to transfer early childhood care responsibilities to local authorities as much as possible because caring for young children is not merely about education management but close nurturing. Local authorities have sufficient motivation and contextual understanding to provide effective care, provided this decentralization is accompanied by adequate and appropriate budget allocations.
Another related issue is the "PISA scores." Many parents worry that Thailand’s low PISA scores lead the government to focus on improving secondary students’ scores. However, addressing this at that stage is too late. Real improvement should start at primary, or ideally kindergarten level, because early learning outcomes better predict future scores than last-minute fixes.
“These are areas I hope the education system will place greater importance on.”
STEM, integrating knowledge from four disciplines, is a concept Thailand’s education system has somewhat developed but still far from true success. As a university professor, I’ve observed a clear decline in STEM interest among upper secondary students, which is concerning and indicates structural problems in Thailand’s STEM teaching system.
Additionally, the current decline in Thai children’s IQ levels underscores the urgent need to seriously review how STEM education can motivate, sustain interest, and help children appreciate learning from early through late education. Relevant agencies like NSTDA should reconsider and redesign strategies accordingly.
Thailand’s human capital development remains far from its potential. Many classroom activities should be in a "mode of experimentation and learning," allowing teachers and students to trial and err, thereby building real knowledge and skills.
I understand this issue well from working with political sectors, noting that Thai politics harbors a strong fear of failure. Policy decisions often avoid experimenting with new ideas due to concerns about appearing wrong or unsuccessful, preventing the education system from genuinely advancing towards innovative change.