Overview
The situation of the education with special needs in Thailand may not be much
different from other countries in Asia. We began with separate schools for each disability
as to schools for the blind, schools for the deaf and schools for the mentally limited.
However, these are not the only groups of children with special needs. There are more
learners who find it hard to access both school for specific needs and normal schools.
In recent years, there has been an increased awareness by the government that they
have to provide education for all groups of children. The policy of the government has
moved to the target of education for all. The ìchildren with special needsî is rather a new
interesting phase in Thailand. However, based on philosophy of ìeducation for allî, the Thai
government enacted a constitution for the peopleís right to education. At the same time, the
National Education Act was implemented. It is aimed at providing equal opportunity for
every child. Both Laws and Acts cover some forms of disability discrimination.
This can be seen from the 1999 National Education Act, in Chapter 2 which
specified rights and duties in education of Thai citizens that the education scheme has to
provide opportunity for every citizen for basic education not less than 12 years equally.
As for underprivileged who are both mentally and physically disabled, the government
has to provide special education for them. The second chapter also stipulated that special
education has to be provided in appropriate form according to individual needs as stated in
Chapters 8 to 14 and 22, 24, 28 and 29 (Office of the National Commission, 1999).
Keywords: special education, mental disability, physical disability