A friend of mine tells me that he has paid his girlfriend school fee for her daughter in 3 Mayathom.

I thought since this is part of mandatory school it was free.

Or does some of these Thai schools have school fee?

It was 30 000 THB for 6 months.

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30k for a term sounds like amount for a private bi-lingual or English program

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Many government schools will ask for a "donation" to the school, which will be a small fee (maybe 500 - 2000 baht per term), so that they can run special services which aren't covered within the school's budget from the government.

Also most schools these days will also run English, Bi-Lingual or Gifted programs which vary in cost. My school's Bi-Lingual program is one of the cheaper ones, as we're in the countryside, 10,000 per term for M1-3, 15,000 per term for M4-6.

By comparison I think the Prattom school I worked at previously charged 24,000 per term for the Bi-lingual program and 18,000 for the standard program (And that was 3 years ago, so it might have gone up). That was a Satit/Demonstration school though, which is essentially a private school, as it's run by the university not the government.

My mate paid 20k but I knew it was 10k. Well someone has to pay to feed others and look cool playing cards..........

Did your friend go along to the school, pay them the money and get a receipt?

Or was it money placed in an outstretched hand?

These details are important if we are to answer your question.

The government school near me, charges about 6k for uniforms {5 uniforms, 2 pair shoes and underthings), books and English lessons.

uniforms, 2x skirts plus blouse, sports track suit, lanna dance costume, nurse outfit for girl or scout outfit for boy.

shoes, black, white trainers

Money in the outstretched hand, as far as I know ;-)

Thank you guys, for your contributions .

Looking at the answers, it might be possible he is really paying the fees.

So is it a bi-lingual programme on a government school it probably is correct?

This is Naklua, close to Pattaya so not in the country side.

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A Bi-Lingual program, or alternatively a private school, either would/could charge around 20,000 per term. The true cost may actually be higher too once uniforms/stationary/school trips/afterschool tutoring and private tutoring and weekend tutoring are accounted for.

When I lived in a homestay, the students would goto normal school from 8am - 3:30pm, then from 3:30pm - 5pm they would have after school tutoring with teachers from the school, then they'd goto their private tutor from around 5pm - 7pm. On the weekends they'd then travel to the neighbouring province to study from 9am - 4pm Sat/Sun with their private tutor. All of that tutoring adds up, so might end up being asked for quite a bit of money to assist with the kids education (Assuming she signs up the kids for all of the extra tutoring etc)