Now that students’ ‘free time’ is to be directed by individual schools the success of this initiative will be determined by the quality of these extracurricular activities. Students at schools that create opportunities to engage in art, music and sports could genuinely benefit from this project. However, there is a concern that with pressure to raise academic standards, some schools may hijack this initiative by focusing on extra academic classes. What Thai children need more than extracurricular project work, occupational training and additional Mathematics lessons is time to be children and time to play free from the rigid conformity of the classroom.