3.3 Administration and Management of Education
and Participation in Educational Provision by the
Private Sector
The private sector is an important mechanism in the provision of
education at all levels and of all types. In this Chapter, the participation
of the private sector covers non-governmental organisations, private
educational institutions, private enterprises, families, private entities
and communities and religious institutions.
3.3.1 Educational Provision by Non-governmental
Organisations
Both local and foreign non-governmental organisations
make a major contribution to the provision of basic education. For
example, several agencies, such as the Child Development Centres
and the Council of Early Childhood and Youth Development
Organisations, help provide non-formal pre-primary education.
Another example is the contribution of the Duang
Prateep Foundation, established in 1978 and officially registered as
a charity in Thailand. Its project on education covers kindergarten
programmes, a special school for the hearing-impaired and education
sponsorship. The Foundation now supervises 11 kindergartens in
Bangkok slums and is viewed as the model in founding community
kindergarten in slum areas. Thus far, the Duang Prateep Foundation
has assisted in setting up 15 kindergartens in other slum areas
as well as in poor villages in the Northeast. The kindergartens
are administered by locally elected community councils and the
Foundation’s role is a supportive and advisory one.
3.3.2 Educational Provision by Private Educational
Institutions
The state is responsible for overseeing administration
and management as well as for monitoring the quality and standards
of private educational institutions, both those providing general
education and those offering vocational education. At present, most
private institutions are proprietorial schools, with a few prestigious
institutions managed by Christian denominations.