Cost Of Childrens Education In Thailand

[tk47]

Is there a set figure for the cost of education in Thailand for children? I'm curious how much it does cost per year.

[Farang007]

It is not expensive. A good international school run a mere $10K USD/year.

Much cheaper than what you would pay back home.

[Padkapow Guy]

A friend of mine that just move there @ 6 months ago said that it cost him $19k for the first year and then it goes down to $9k. I do not know the name of the school that his daughter goes to .

PKG

my father always use to say " the world needs ditch diggers" If it cost him $19k a year for my schooling I am sure I would be in a ditch right now.

[Maizefarmer]

In theory state education for children is free – I say in theory, because there are always costs e.g. books, getting to and from school, clothing and the such like – but the education and going to school is in it’s self free.

That is the case in theory, but has as been happening for the last 10 years or so, especially in Bangkok, there are some state schools that receive significant additional funding from their PTA’s (Parent Teachers Association), which have turned into some of the most expensive schools in the country.

They have become distorted by the wealth of the parents of the children that go to them and getting your child into them is near to impossible unless you are willing to “donate” a six or seven figure sum!

They are however very much the minority (a handful or so), and not representative of the market.

It would be fair to say though that the quality of education that children receive is to some extent dependant on how much can be paid, and I don’t think anyone will doubt that the private schools do offer a better standard – or should that be “better opportunity”.

They to are expensive, costing anywhere from Baht 150K thru to around Baht 500K per year.

Both my kids went to the International school near Khao Yai Nature Reserve (a boarding school), and I am pleased they did. They have achieved far more than they would have had they gone to the local state school. For a start the state school classes are 60 plus pupils per class. At the private school they went to it was around 13 per class.

Are state schools bad?

No – they are limited by state (provincial) funding – and wherever you go in the world private finance tends to offer more than state finance – and by and large it also attracts better qualified teachers. That’s not to say state teachers are no good – far from it, like nurses in this country, they are a motivated bunch of folk who work for very little.

In summary, to answer your question – no, there is no fixed cost: the poorest of the poor are entitled to primary & secondary education – money or no money. How practical it is though it is for any child to get education for free though, is another matter, as unifroms and books are not free.

Tim

[Diablo Bob]

A few factors to consider:

1) Location: International schools in Bangkok, Pattaya etc. are around 25% costlier than Chiangmai.

2) Students age:

My two daughters are attending NIS in Chiangmai, one in kindergarden the other in 3rd grade, the yearly cost, excluding the one time fees at initial registration, is coming in around $7000. The price escalates when they move from Primary to high school.

The quality of the education is excellent, on par or better than they would recieve in the USA.

[Nawtilus]

Depends on the kids age.

My son goes to Kindergarten at 108,000b per year currently.

[Chang_paarp]

Is there a set figure for the cost of education in Thailand for children? I'm curious how much it does cost per year.

Mercy Mission in Pattaya budgets the following for their kids, this would be the least you could budget. (This information will also be on their web site soon.)

PATTAYA SCHOOL # 7 FOR ONE YEAR OR TWO TERMS: MAY - SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER - MARCH

Primary 1- 3

Uniforms B 1,240 (Skirt or shorts, blouse or shirt, shoes, 4 socks, Scout, sports set)

Activity fee B 450

School Fee B 900 Book’s & stationary supply

Total B 2,590

Grade 4 - 6

Uniforms B 1,870 Girls / B 1,905 Boys (Skirt or shorts, blouse or shirt, shoes, 4 socks, Scout, sports set)

Activity fee B 750

School Fee B 1,100 Book’s & stationary supply

Total: B 3,720 Girls OR B 3,755 Boys

Grade 7 - 9

Uniforms B 1,870 Girls / B 1,905 Boys (Skirt or shorts, blouse or shirt, shoes, 4 socks, Scout, sports set)

Activity B 750

School fee B 1,200 Book’s & stationary supply

Total: B 3,820 Girls OR B 3,855 Boys

OTHER OPTIONAL SUPPORT POSSIBILITIES:

Daily lunch program: B 20 per meal x 5 days x 40 weeks = B 4,000 per student per year (Only neediest students)

Monthly lunch activity: B 1,000 per month for special lunch with ALL scholarship students, with MERCY staff worker

If you are looking to help someone this is the starting point, if you are looking to educate your own kid, you will be spending more thn this.

[a2396]

It is not expensive. A good international school run a mere $10K USD/year.

Much cheaper than what you would pay back home.

NOT EXPENSIVE!!! Hope y'all got high paying exec jobs with mulit-national companies in Thailand and your not living here on some peanut retirement money.

[saraburioz]

Is there a set figure for the cost of education in Thailand for children? I'm curious how much it does cost per year.

No there isn't.

I pay about 100,000 a year for my kids(2 sons) education, which is a very good school in Saraburi.

My mate spends over 1.5 million a year for his two kids at Bangkok Pattana.

Looking at the kids, I'm glad we sent ours to a non-international school.

There's a big drug problem at some of these 'top' schools.

QUOTE(Farang007 @ 2006-11-19 03:46:31)

It is not expensive. A good international school run a mere $10K USD/year.

Much cheaper than what you would pay back home.

NOT EXPENSIVE!!! Hope y'all got high paying exec jobs with mulit-national companies in Thailand and your not living here on some peanut retirement money

Sadly, there are many elder guys who have been conned into having kids when they're retired - up country anyway. Guess who'll get their retirement money if they die?

$10,000 a year is a lot more expensive than back home for me.

Edited November 21, 2006 by saraburioz

[Farang007]

It is not expensive. A good international school run a mere $10K USD/year.

Much cheaper than what you would pay back home.

NOT EXPENSIVE!!! Hope y'all got high paying exec jobs with mulit-national companies in Thailand and your not living here on some peanut retirement money.

I doubt you could survive in BKK with a family and peanut retirement money. How are you paying for your kids university?

[a2396]

It is not expensive. A good international school run a mere $10K USD/year.

Much cheaper than what you would pay back home.

NOT EXPENSIVE!!! Hope y'all got high paying exec jobs with mulit-national companies in Thailand and your not living here on some peanut retirement money.

I doubt you could survive in BKK with a family and peanut retirement money. How are you paying for your kids university?

I don't have kids, so it's not an issue to me. I live on peanut money, so I can only afford one lady, or maybe 1.5 sometimes. I don't live in BKK. I don't know who would want to live there unless they have to.

[a2396]

Is there a set figure for the cost of education in Thailand for children? I'm curious how much it does cost per year.

No there isn't.

I pay about 100,000 a year for my kids(2 sons) education, which is a very good school in Saraburi.

My mate spends over 1.5 million a year for his two kids at Bangkok Pattana.

Looking at the kids, I'm glad we sent ours to a non-international school.

There's a big drug problem at some of these 'top' schools.

QUOTE(Farang007 @ 2006-11-19 03:46:31)

It is not expensive. A good international school run a mere $10K USD/year.

Much cheaper than what you would pay back home.

NOT EXPENSIVE!!! Hope y'all got high paying exec jobs with mulit-national companies in Thailand and your not living here on some peanut retirement money

Sadly, there are many elder guys who have been conned into having kids when they're retired - up country anyway. Guess who'll get their retirement money if they die?

$10,000 a year is a lot more expensive than back home for me.

This is true. Many two wage earner families in the "Good Ole US of A" are scrimping to send junior & sis to college. Many have to borrow the money. Fortunately, when I went to university back in the old days, it was relatively cheap. Yes, many old geezers in LOS have been pursuaded or have decided of their own free will to produce more offspring. I hope they live long enough to provide for them. The lady/wife seems to think such children will provide some future security for her. Many times this is not the case. As for my retirement money, it is bye, bye after I croak. So, one might presume this would be an incentive for my lovely to provide me with a happy and enjoyable situation. Unfortunately, the rational thought process gene is lacking with 99.9% or the local population here and there is no connection or realization of cause and effect.

[saraburioz]

I don't have kids, so it's not an issue to me. I live on peanut money, so I can only afford one lady, or maybe 1.5 sometimes. I don't live in BKK. I don't know who would want to live there unless they have to.

You should try having half a lady sometimes, then you could save up for 2 100% ones.

[bkkmick]

If it helps guage things, I pay about 150,000 per term (3 terms a year) for my two girls (aged 3 and 5) at an international school in BKK.

[Neeranam]

I pay 12,000 Baht a term for my 4 year old.

There's a better one for 40,000 but I can't afford it.

It's not always best to go for the most expensive one.

I think that the normal Thai government school is adequate.

I know a few Thai people who went on to study abroad and get PhDs after a humble primary and secondary schooling.

[robint]

I have heard from flang teachers who taught in some of these prestigious 500k pa international schools in bkk that the discipline problem is appaling as well as other side effects, drug under age sex and utterly spoilt rich kids. they told me that they wouldnt ever send a kid of theirs to such a school, which is just as well cos my pension wouldnt stretch that far anyway.

Its a serious problem for a flang parent, unless you have a full expat package. How will a child ever learn to speak english fluently under local conditions??

[tk47]

Some interesting observations there.

If there are drug problems in some of the International Schools then I would see that as a problem needing to be looked at, especially as the fees do seem high - and we do not always get what we pay for.

Also if the state education is 'as good' in some state schools then I would have thought that a state school could be a good option.

Seems that it is the cost of the books, travel, uniform and other extras extras including the after school hours that cost the money.

[roamer]

So much more to this. A lot depends on whether you want your kids to obtain a bi-lingual education, or at least one that has any meaning. Any kindergarten can get kids to recite a nursery rhyme in English. Any private school with a separate English stream should be able to get kids to at least a reasonable standard of English, though if your aim is to get your offspring into higher education in the UK, AND to have a chance of understanding what the hel_l is happening, then your pushing it. I can't speak for the US.

International schools ? Some of them are that in name only. even many of the accredited ones, in Bangkok at least, at a secondary level have few pupils who are not Thai. The immediate problem with that is that English tends to be used only in the classroom. This year I visited quite a few and was distinctly underwhelmed, facilities often impressive but thats where it ended. The "rich kid" syndrome very much in evidence. And lets face it you have to be fairly rich, or at least well off by Thai standards to afford the fees. Its often stated that the fees for International schools are inflated by Farangs on expat packages, what a pile of ****, there aren't enough farang kids being educated in Bangkok to fill one school let alone the 50 or so schools that lay claim to the title.

[chuck6660]

In theory state education for children is free – I say in theory, because there are always costs e.g. books, getting to and from school, clothing and the such like – but the education and going to school is in it’s self free.

That is the case in theory, but has as been happening for the last 10 years or so, especially in Bangkok, there are some state schools that receive significant additional funding from their PTA’s (Parent Teachers Association), which have turned into some of the most expensive schools in the country.

They have become distorted by the wealth of the parents of the children that go to them and getting your child into them is near to impossible unless you are willing to “donate” a six or seven figure sum!

They are however very much the minority (a handful or so), and not representative of the market.

It would be fair to say though that the quality of education that children receive is to some extent dependant on how much can be paid, and I don’t think anyone will doubt that the private schools do offer a better standard – or should that be “better opportunity”.

They to are expensive, costing anywhere from Baht 150K thru to around Baht 500K per year.

Both my kids went to the International school near Khao Yai Nature Reserve (a boarding school), and I am pleased they did. They have achieved far more than they would have had they gone to the local state school. For a start the state school classes are 60 plus pupils per class. At the private school they went to it was around 13 per class.

Are state schools bad?

No – they are limited by state (provincial) funding – and wherever you go in the world private finance tends to offer more than state finance – and by and large it also attracts better qualified teachers. That’s not to say state teachers are no good – far from it, like nurses in this country, they are a motivated bunch of folk who work for very little.

In summary, to answer your question – no, there is no fixed cost: the poorest of the poor are entitled to primary & secondary education – money or no money. How practical it is though it is for any child to get education for free though, is another matter, as unifroms and books are not free.

Tim

Say Tim:

We have 15 kids here at the Orphanage here in Buriram, all are Thai citizens although two of the kids at the center are my own natural children since we have them all living with us. When we had our own two-- we applied for both American and Thai passports. Since one was born abroad (the United Arab Emirates) that was an easy one. For the one born in Thailand it took a bit more running around, including the official refusing to allow me to register my child's name because it was too long. Now ain't that a kicker with all these longish Thai names floating around. We had three names, the third one being a Thai name so when it came to school they could use a name they---the teachers- could pronounce. I had to threaten to go speak with the provincial governor before the officer relented and registered our child's name. Because my two kids are dual nationals they can attend Thai school. Free? No way. The cost of sending this brood was over 3,000 US Dollars by the time we added books, uniforms, school mandated fees (i.e., computer course) and then on top of it all kids are pressured into after school tutoring with their classroom teacher in order to do well on the tests each term. It seems that some of the more important stuff is taught after school to guarantee they will pay the extra tuition charges which go directly to the classroom teacher. say a 6,500 baht salary for 50 kids, but 25,000 baht per month for those same fifty kids (500 baht each) to study one additional hour. I opted not to include two of the kids, result, even though we knew they were performing to par, they were ranked 37 out of 37 and 36 out of 37 respectively. This is not Bangkok but a rural province in Isaan, far from the Madding Crowd. For kids in the provinces education is getting considerably more expensive each year. We also sponsor nine more kids for their fees etc at a hundred dollars each in another very rural and extremely impoverished school district (Suwaiji) where average school costs are around 4,000 baht each. here in Buriram that average is closer to 10,000 baht. Now for a farmer on a 3,000 baht per month earning. That's just one of many reasons why so many kids are dropped out of "free school" and end up in the trades, and sweat shops. We have been out here fulltime for the past nine years.

Speaking of education in Buriram, last year I saw a flyer regarding a new international school in Buriram. Do you have any info on this school?

I plan on moving to Buriram in several years and will have school age children. Any recommendations. Where is your orphanage located?

[Scott]

For people whose primary concern is the education of their child and money is not the biggest issue, you might want to consider a bilingual education if your child is Thai/mixed Thai and likely to remain or go to University in Thailand.

If you plan to send your child overseas or to an international program then it is wise for them to attend an international school.

Interntional schools are educating students in English (usually) and Thai language is taken as a regular subject. At the end of their education, the students are able to function and learn in an English environment. They would be very hard pressed to manage upper level education in Thai.

A bilingual school gives them both--they are proficient in English and can learn in an English environment. They are also proficient in Thai and have met the requirements of the MOE for a Thai education.

It is important to remember than for educational purposes, the language is extremely important. It's not just about fluency or being able to speak well; it's about being able to function and understand the lexicon of the language with regard to learning.

If you want to test this out, just ask people with a good command of English to explain some of the Buddhist holidays. Most can't. They understand, but they just can't put the idea/concept of what it means into English. This isn't for a lack of words or terminology. This is what bilingual education is about.

If all a child is going to need is conversational English, then the State schools are probably fine with some additional tuition or an English speaking parent helping the child out.

[Scott]

Oh, I forgot to mention, that a reasonable amount for a bilingual school (prathom--elementary level) is about 50,000 - 70,000 baht per year. You can expect wide fluctuations in the price range, but that's a rough estimate.

[Diablo Bob]

Scott is right on the money about the bi-lingual education.

As I mentioned above, both my daughters are attending an International school in Chiangmai. While their education is excellent in Western subjects and format, their Thai language studies are pitiful. They are both fluent in conversant Thai & Khmer, but ask them to read Thai script and they act like monkeys doing a math problem.

I have resorted to using an outside tutor during the summer break and on Saturdays for an hour a day to supplement their education. At the very least, I would like them to be able to read a Thai newspaper someday.

As to college, there are a few Universities in Thailand which require an international school curriculum to enter.

Edited November 22, 2006 by Diablo Bob