Education in Thailand part 2

School system

After 2001, the Ministry changed the system of education into 'Children Centre,' and the school structure was divided into four levels: the first three years in elementary school are the first level, Prathom 1 - 3, corresponding to American grades 1 through 3, the second level, Prathom 4 through 6 comprises grades 4 through 6, the third level which comprises the first three years in high school, Matthayom 1 - 3, and the upper level of high school consists of Matthayom 4 - 6. After each level, students need to pass the NET (National Educational Test)to graduate. Children are required only to attend six years of elementary school and at least the first three years of high school. But, if they have graduated the sixth year of high school, there are two important tests following: O-NET (Ordinary National Educational Test) and A-NET (Advanced National Educational Test). After graduating from high school, many students in the major cities will choose to continue their education to bachelor level, and will need to pass the CUAS (Central University Admission System) which contains 50% of O-NET and A-NET results and the other half of the fourth level GPA (Grade Point Average). Since 2001, Thai Education has changed its face. Lots of students in the major cities don't like the CUAS system and protest it, because there is no standard of GPA result from each school, but there is opposite situation in country area. So, some university boards decided to avoid the problems by receiving students before the CUAS.

There are public and private schools. Some local schools have only elementary school and 3 years of high school. Rural schools are generally less well equipped than the schools in the large towns and cities and the standard of instruction, particularly for the English language, is much lower.

Teachers have been criticized for looking the other way when students and colleagues plagiarize. Some believe that the allowance of plagiarism stifles learning and creativity in many Asian countries. The use of plagiarised material certainly does not demonstrate any understanding of its content, or that it has been retained in the memory of the student. It can be regarded as theft of intellectual property - which is commonplace and rife in Thai society, industry, and commerce, in spite of the government's efforts to combat it.