Parents brought their children to the Equitable Education Fund's 'Mobile School' Open House at the Klong Toey slum community in Bangkok in July last year. Photo Bangkok Post

BANGKOK – Thailand’s Education Ministry is intensifying efforts to get as many dropouts as possible back to school in 2025 under the government's Thailand Zero Dropout policy.

A survey by the ministry found that a total of 1,025,514 children aged 3-18 dropped out in 2024. Of them, 767,304 were Thai children, and the rest were those of foreign nationals.

Of the Thai children, 365,231 or 47.6 per cent were brought back to school. For foreign children, 31,816 or 12.32 per cent returned to school.

Education Minister Permpoon Chidchob said tackling the school dropout problem is part of efforts to promote educational equality under the government's initiative.

The ministry has introduced programmes to provide formal, non-formal, and informal education tailored to each child's needs and potential in order to bring dropouts back to school, he added. VNS