Hello, our Thai daughter is 4 years old, and is going to finish Anuban 2 soon.  She is at the top of her class for the 2nd year in a row, and is far ahead of all her peers because we already taught her a lot at home ourselves.  I noticed that education is only compulsory starting from Prathom 1.  So does that mean our daughter can just skip Anuban 3, and start Prathom 1 after finishing Anuban 2?  What do we parents have to do to make that happen?  Is it just a matter of taking an entrance exam for Prathom 1?

 

Thanks!

 

I think part of it depends on her age.  Is she old enough to be admitted to Grade 1?

What age does she have to be, by which date?

 

I am not sure, but if you call any of the local schools, they can give you the information.  

May I ask why you want your daughter to start earky? 

 

It's generally a bad idea to be the youngest one in the class, children develop fast and being a year younger than everybody else makes a big difference the early years. OK, it makes little difference later in school but some habits have already formed and they are more difficult to change once there

 

The older ones naturally become a bit more of the leader type in the class, they're bigger, stronger and more mature and that builds habits and inner self confidence. You don't often see the youngest one in the class being the leader. When school should start has very little to do with knowledge

 

School is mandatory from the age of 6 in Thailand. The school age is counted from 1-April so a child should technically start grade 6 in the middle-end of May if they turned 6 before 1-April and wait a year if it was after that. This is not a strict rule though and there are exceptions both ways

 

You can skip K3 if you want, some/most? schools may have an entrance exam if you do but that should be it. Go and talk to the school if you really want that, they will assess the child and tell you

 

I don't see the value in finishing high school / university a year earlier, work 45 instead of 46 years before retirement? I don't think it matters much in the long run, it's more important to have the best possible EQ when starting to work IMO

 

Good Luck

Michael