One of the major·concerns of every government
is the development of the country's
human resources. Among various approaches
to improving the quality of human resources,
education has always been regarded as one of
the most important measures. According to
the human capital theory, resources appropriated
for education are considered as an
investment. Empirical findings in many countries
reveal that the rate of returns on this
form of investment are, in general, relatively
high. These encouraging findings urge the
governments ofmany countries to set education
high among their budget priorities.
Mter a long history of development of the
educational system and a huge amount of
resources allocated to the education sector,
Thailand is now claiming that it will reach
universal enrollment in primary education by
the end of the Fifth Economic and Social
Development Plan, i.e., by 1986. With a
decline in the population growth rate and the
need to develop a middle level of manpower,
the government is now contemplating the possibility
of extending compulsory education to
the lower secondary level.