School fees for State schools?

[Najinsky]

Hello forum.

 

My 4.5 year old daughter has just started going to state school in Prasat/Surin.

 

My daughter's mum, my ex-girlfriend, has called me to say I need to go to the school with her to pay school fees of 3,500 baht, and also take along my passport for the school to copy.

 

I don't mind paying for my daughter, but a Thai lady, the wife of a friend, who speaks good English, asked me why I have to pay money to the school because Thai State schools are free. My friends think this may be yet another con by my ex-gf to get a bit more money from me, that probably the teach is a friend of hers and the money will end up being split between them.

 

I'm looking for information that will help me discover what the actual truth of the situation is. Discussing with my ex-gf is not really a viable plan as her stock response to any question she doesn't like is "I not speak the English for that", it's the reason we separated - an inability to communicate.

 

Thanks in advance for any information you can offer.

[stubuzz]

Schooling is free.  However, the 3,500 is a claw-back to recoup as much as they can, and it will include nonsense like janitorial fees and electricity subsidy.  You should be supplied with an itemized bill and if you cannot read it, post it on here or in the language forum for a translation.

[tonray]

Parents pay for many things in a Thai government school. There are uniforms, computer lab fees, haircut fees, utilities and mentioned above, art supplies.....etc etc. 3500 sounds just about right and not out of line in  my experience.