World Bank2012-03-192012-03-192012-01-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/2723Education quality is crucial to Thailand's future economic success. While lower-income countries in East Asia are experiencing a bulge in their youth population, Thailand's youth labor force is expected to decline by 10 percent over the next decade. As a result, the labor-intensive comparative advantage that contributed significantly to Thailand's past economic performance will diminish. This means that it is essential for Thailand to develop the human capital of its declining young work force to ensure the country's future competitiveness and economic growth. Education is a significant component of human capital development, the economic benefits of which are firmly established in the policy literature to have a positive effect on economic growth. However, the success or failure of education in terms of increasing productivity and growth depends crucially on its quality. Thailand has participated in two international student assessments to measure the quality of education: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD's) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the IEA's Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). This study also supports policy dialogue on improving accountability mechanisms for publically funded private schools. The above findings reveal that public schools outperform private schools even though private schools receive public funding. The implication is that the accountability mechanism for private schools that receive public funding needs to be improved in order to ensure that private schools are providing high quality services. There are several international examples of strong accountability mechanisms for publically funded private schools. One example is the voucher scheme used in the Netherlands. This provides schools with equal funding per student with which schools have considerable freedom on how to use this funding; however, they must meet specific performance requirements.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO EDUCATIONACCESS TO SECONDARY EDUCATIONACCREDITATIONACCREDITATION SYSTEMACHIEVEMENTSALTERNATIVE EDUCATIONANNUAL FEESBASIC EDUCATIONBASIC EDUCATION LEVELBILINGUAL EDUCATIONCERTIFICATION OF TEACHERSCERTIFICATION SYSTEMCIVIC ENGAGEMENTCIVIL SOCIETYCLASS SIZECLASS SIZESCLASSROOMCLASSROOMSCOMMUNITY PARTICIPATIONCOMPLETION RATESCRITICAL THINKINGCURRICULACURRICULUMCURRICULUM REVISIONDECENTRALIZATIONDECISION MAKINGDEGREESDIAGNOSTIC STUDIESDIDACTIC MATERIALSDROPOUT RATEDROPOUT RATESEDUCATED PEOPLEEDUCATION AUTHORITIESEDUCATION COMMUNITYEDUCATION COUNCILSEDUCATION FOR ALLEDUCATION LEADERSEDUCATION OPPORTUNITIESEDUCATION OUTCOMESEDUCATION POLICYEDUCATION PROGRAMSEDUCATION PROJECTSEDUCATION QUALITYEDUCATION REFORMEDUCATION REFORMSEDUCATION SECTOREDUCATION SERVICESEDUCATION STATISTICSEDUCATION STUDENTSEDUCATION SYSTEMEDUCATION SYSTEMSEDUCATION TEACHERSEDUCATION TECHNOLOGYEDUCATIONAL LEVELSEDUCATIONAL OUTCOMESEDUCATIONAL POLICIESEDUCATIONAL POLICYEDUCATIONAL QUALITYEMPLOYMENTENROLLMENT RATESEQUITABLE ACCESSEVALUATION OF EDUCATIONEXAMSEXPENDITURESFIRST GRADEFREE BASIC EDUCATIONGENDER PARITYGIRLSGROSS COMPLETION RATEGROSS ENROLLMENTGROSS ENROLLMENT RATEHIGH DROPOUTHOME VISITSHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN RESOURCESINDIGENOUS COMMUNITIESINDIGENOUS PEOPLEINDIVIDUAL STUDYINFORMATION SYSTEMSINSERVICE TEACHER TRAININGINTERVENTIONSKNOWLEDGE ECONOMYLABOR FORCELEADERSHIPLEARNINGLEARNING ACTIVITIESLEARNING MATERIALLEARNING MATERIALSLEARNING MODULESLEARNING OUTCOMESLEARNING RESOURCESLEVELS OF EDUCATIONLIBRARY BOOKSLITERACYLITERACY RATESLITERATURELOW-INCOME STUDENTSMATHEMATICSMINISTRY OF EDUCATIONNATIONAL EDUCATIONNET ENROLLMENTNET ENROLLMENT RATENET ENROLLMENT RATIOSNUMBER OF STUDENTSNUMBER OF STUDENTS PER CLASSOPEN SECONDARY EDUCATIONPARENT PARTICIPATIONPARTICIPATORY LEARNINGPASS RATEPERFORMANCE INDICATORSPHYSICAL EDUCATIONPRESCHOOL LEVELPRIMARY EDUCATIONPRINTINGPRIVATE SCHOOLPRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTSPROVISION OF EDUCATIONPROVISION OF TECHNICALPROVISION OF TEXTBOOKSPUBLIC SCHOOLSPUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLSQUALITY OF EDUCATIONQUALITY STANDARDSRECRUITMENT OF TEACHERSREPETITIONREPETITION RATERESOURCE CENTERRESOURCE CENTERSRURAL AREASRURAL SCHOOLSRURAL STUDENTSSCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMSCHOLARSHIP SCHEMESCHOLARSHIPSSCHOOL DEVELOPMENTSCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANSCHOOL DIRECTORSSCHOOL EDUCATIONSCHOOL ENVIRONMENTSCHOOL FURNITURESCHOOL LEVELSSCHOOL LIBRARIESSCHOOL MANAGEMENTSCHOOL MAPPINGSCHOOL POPULATIONSCHOOL PRINCIPALSSCHOOL PROGRAMSSCHOOL STUDENTSSCHOOL SUPERVISIONSCHOOL SUPERVISORSCHOOL TEACHERSSCHOOL YEARSCHOOLINGSCHOOLSSCIENCE EDUCATIONSCIENCE LABORATORIESSCIENCE TEXTBOOKSSECONDARY SCHOOLSECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERSSECONDARY STUDENTSSOCIAL DEVELOPMENTSOCIAL SCIENCESSTANDARDIZED TESTSSTATE EDUCATIONSTUDENT ACHIEVEMENTSTUDENT CERTIFICATIONSTUDENT LEARNINGSTUDENT LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTSTUDENT PERFORMANCESTUDENT PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTTEACHERTEACHER CERTIFICATIONTEACHER SUPPORTTEACHER TRAININGTEACHER TRAINING INSTITUTESTEACHER TRAINING INSTITUTIONSTEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMSTEACHERSTEACHINGTEACHING POSITIONSTEACHING STAFFTECHNICAL ASSISTANCETERTIARY EDUCATIONTEXTBOOKSUNIVERSITIESURBAN SCHOOLSURBAN SECONDARY SCHOOLSUSE OF TEXTBOOKSWORKING HOURSWorld Bank10.1596/2723