Decentralization in Education of Thailand: Lesson Learnt from South Korea

Abstract

This paper focuses on two activities: 1) to study the situation and a road map of Thailand for increasing the role of the Local Administration Organization in providing and supporting education and, 2) to study Lesson Learnt and best practice of Educational Administration by the Local Administration Organization in South Korea. The study found that Thailand has promoted and supported the concept of decentralization to local government to be able to participate in education. This is stated in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, the highest law of the country, and the National Education Act, 1999. The Ministerial Regulation has been issued in 2007 prescribing the rules and how to decentralize the educational administration. It is found that 381 schools have already been transferred to the local government. In the second decade of education reform (2009-2018), the proposal continues to define this important concept as it is indicated to be one of the four issues of the education system which needs urgent reform with a focus on decentralization to the school, Education Service Area, and local government. In the proposal for educational reform in the second decade, the entire framework and the primary mechanism have been set including the supporting mechanism which needs the improvement to be brought in to action. Thailand requires that good practices from countries that are successful in educational management. The experience and lesson learned from operations in South Korea’s education focuses on the decentralization of education to locality. In 1991 South Korean declared the Decentralization of Educational Administration Act and the Education Tax Act which make the allocation of educational budget become stronger. The authority of education has been decentralized and the budget has been allocated to the local government in order to meet the needs of local people without political influence. South Korea is therefore known as a country with high quality of education and ability to compete in the international level in field of education.