Education System
The Thai education system includes twelve years of free education. Nine of them are mandatory. Around the age of three, lots of Thai kids start attending pre-school, which is not a part of obligatory education in Thailand, though. Parents also have to pay for nurseries or kindergarten themselves.
From around age six to eleven, children in Thailand go through six years of primary education or prathorn. This is both free and obligatory, just like the following three years of lower secondary (mattayom stage one). During nine years of compulsory schooling, children receive education in several core subjects (maths, Thai, science, social studies, religion and culture, health and PE, arts, career and technology, foreign languages).
After that, many Thai kids go on to upper secondary school (mattayom stage two) until the age of 17. This often prepares them for university entrance exams. Other students simply go for three to five years of vocational training instead. They learn, for example, about home economics, commerce, or business and tourism.