They are there only to teach the minimum and keep order, sometimes by force. Thousands of village schools where most grow up with very little in the way of varied subjects besides math and learning how to write Thai. Hundreds of thousands of children who's lives no one really knows about until they do something like this and make the news. Some go to college, some go to the large cities to make a little more, but most go back on the farm, 7-11's , noodle shops, Tesco, Amazon's or like work places. Yes, the parents should be number 1 as far as putting the children into the world ready for it's challenges, but if they're not available, who will be? Peers.