Nine years of public education is mandatory in Thailand. Although a pre-school education is not obligatory, many Thai children attend a kindergarten or daycare center. After that, they go to primary school for six years and to a lower-level secondary school for another three years.
When the mandatory schooling is over, they have the opportunity to move on to upper secondary education. This is provided by either an academic institution or one that focuses on vocational training.
Higher Education
The graduates from an academic upper secondary frequently become university students. A course at a Thai university (e.g. Chulalongkorn University, Chiang Mai University, or Mahidol University) usually takes them four years for a Bachelor’s degree. Some subjects, such as education or medical school, require five or six years.
While the language of instruction is Thai for most university classes, Thailand’s biggest and most prestigious universities offer some English-language courses as well, e.g. MBA degrees for international students.
International Schools
Unfortunately, many public schools in Thailand suffer from underfunding and an accordingly bad student-teacher ratio. However, often the language barrier is the main reason why most expat kids attend private international schools. There the language of instruction is either English or their mother tongue.
All international schools are required to instruct their students in the Thai language and Thai culture. That way, expat children still gain an insight into their host country’s language and culture.
Most international schools in Thailand are situated somewhere in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area. Unfortunately, the latest official directory of international schools in Thailand as provided by the Thailand Ministry of Education dates back to 2004.
However, there are definitely international schools in Bangkok which cater to the needs of Australian, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Swiss, and US American expat communities (among others). For instance, the KIS Bangkok and Ruamrudee International School are international schools offering the International Baccalaureate. Aside from that, there are a few (mostly English-language) international schools in Chiang Mai and on Phuket, among other places.