ABSTRACT
Restructuring schools in Thailand by closing down small-size schools affects the education accessibility among vulnerable and remote students. While students' performance become a challenging concern, the policy of school dissolution may affect the education improvement. This paper aims to 1) estimate the trend of the number of school-age students and classes for primary and secondary education under the Office of the Basic Education Commission of Thailand (OBEC), Ministry of Education and 2) to investigate the spatial distribution of schools under the OBEC and identify the areas at risk of small-size school dissolution. Data used in this study are the national population projection during 2011-2040 and geographic location of schools across the country. Descriptive statistics show the declining number of school age population during 2015-2040. Additionally, this study presents 3 scenarios of class size: smaller, suggested (20 students), and larger size. All scenarios confirm the shrinking number of classes. This finding suggests that restructuring schools in Thailand will be occurred inevitably for efficient resource management, although merging schools are debated. Regarding the policy, small-size schools within a certain areas of similar-level schools will be closed. Considering school's radius, spatial analysis shows the area at risk of school dissolution. The result of this study would help the Thai policy planners to allocate resource efficiently and do not jeopardize the education improvement among Thai students.
Moderator: Dr. Sutthida Chuanwan
August 19, 2015 Time: 12:30 – 13:30 hrs. Room Srabua 109
