The Office of the Vocational Education Commission (Ovec) will ask the Ministry of Education to add an additional 100-200 million baht to its budget this week after a drastic increase in enrolment numbers for vocational education students.
Chaipreuk Sereerak, Ovec's secretary-general, said more than 300,000 students have signed up for vocational courses next term, which is an increase of 40,000 students on the same period last year. Another 30,000 students will take double vocational courses which allow students to study formal education and vocational programmes at the same time.
The number of students is at its highest level for nine years, he said.
The proposed additional funds will be added to the approved budget of 22.4 billion baht, which itself is a 7% increase on last year.
Of this budget, 43% is allocated for wages and salary, 24% is per-student expenses, 15% is operating costs, 11% is investment and 7% is miscellaneous.
"Even though we have already received 7% more money than the last fiscal year, it's probably still not enough due to the dramatic increase in the number of vocational students. The main problem will be the per-student budget," Ovec's chief said.
Mr Chaipreuk said if the Ovec request is approved, the extra money would be spent on vocational equipment and the per-student subsidy. Also, Ovec might have to employ more teachers and staff to offset the increase in students.
"We're happy about the growing popularity of vocational education as we now have a better image. Moreover, our dropout rate now is just 9%, which is the first time it's been under 10% for many years,'' he said. "However, we also need more funds to continue moving forward."
The government has recently announced plans to increase the proportion of vocational students compared to those studying in academia to meet domestic labour market needs.
Graduation day took every single chair in a packed auditorium last year at Rajamangala University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima. The last two governments urged students to go to vocational schools instead of universities, and they have done it. Now the schools need more cash to cope.