All public and many private kindergartens implement the Curriculum for Pre-
Primary Education for 3- to 5-year-olds developed by the Ministry of Education. The
2003 curriculum for pre-primary education organized for children aged 3-5 years
focuses on preparing them in terms of physical, intellectual, emotional/mental and
social development domain. Curricula at the pre-primary level are organized into
teaching units which are to orient children’s daily activities, and to effectively achieve
this the Office of Education Council and OBEC acknowledge the importance of
adequate training for teachers, childcare givers and administrators. Implementation of
the curriculum varies widely between urban and rural centres, largely as the former
tend to have more highly-educated and better-trained staff, greater financial and
material resources, and a higher level of active parental involvement and support, as
they are often in a better position to contribute time and material resources.
In Bangkok and other large cities, where there are more private kindergartens
that cater to middle- and upper-income families who can afford to pay the tuition and
other fees, children are usually enrolled for three years (starting at age 3). These
private kindergartens are supervised by the office of the Private Education
Commission. Statistics for the school year 2000/01 showed that children in private
kindergartens represented 28% (or 547,411 children) of the total enrolment figure for
pre-primary classes. The average class size in private preschools was 30 children for
each class of 3-year-olds and 31 in each class of 4- and 5-year-olds.
The 2006-2015 Plan and Policy for Early Childhood Development was formulated by the Office of the Education Council in cooperation with relevant public and private agencies. As part of the decentralization process and according to the statistics of the Department of Local Administration, the number of child development centres established by Local Administration Organizations (LAOs) increased from 1,782 in 2006 to 2,774 in 2007. Around 14,300 child development centres were transferred under the authority of LAOs from other agencies including the Department of Community Development, the Department of Religious Affairs, and the Office of the Basic Education Commission.
In 2006, approximately 340,000 children in the age group 3-5 years were not
attending any kind of preschool, reflecting a net enrolment ratio of 88%. The
remaining 12% are largely those of lower socioeconomic background and/or from
remote rural areas. An assessment of the quality of preschool education indicated that
only 40% of 3- to 5-year-olds received adequate preparation for readiness in learning
before attending primary school. In response to the data presented in the preschool
sector analysis, the Ten-year Plan and Policy for Early Childhood Development was
promulgated. This Plan provides a blueprint for achieving universal early childhood
education for all children. The Plan and Policy gives priority to three main strategies:
support early childhood development; support parents and other stakeholders; and
promote an environment that facilitates early childhood development. The Plan and
Policy focuses on the 0-5 age group and covers the period 2006-2015. Its objectives
are to: formulate a common concept and guidelines for early childhood at the national
level; prepare concrete operational plans for effective mobilisation, management, and
resource utilisation; provide guidelines for data and information collection, research,
follow-up, and evaluation; and incorporate early childhood development as an integral
part of educational reform. (UNESCO Bangkok, 2011).