The Education Ministry plans by 2039 to raise the average number of school years to 12.5, equivalent to exiting the system at Matthayomsuksa 6, as part of its 20-year master plan, a senior official said yesterday.
Chaipreuk Sereerak, secretary-general of the Education Council, said the move was prompted by the results of a study into how state education was managed in 77 provinces for the period 2015-2017.
The findings showed that Thai students are slowly spending longer at school on average before dropping out or leaving to find jobs, he said.
The results indicate that people aged 15-59 spent 9.33 years on average receiving an education in 2015. The number grew to 9.4 years in 2016 and to 9.52 years in 2017.
This was used as one of 11 indicators to evaluate student's educational development and how state education is being managed in all provinces nationwide.
Students in Bangkok stay in school the longest, or 11.57 years, roughly equivalent to Matthayomsuksa 3, while Mae Hong Son on the Myanmar border has the lowest rate of 6.58 years.
Mr Chaipreuk said the ministry will increase the average length of time that students stay in school to 12.5 years within the next two decades.
This is in line with the policy of Deputy Education Minister Udom Kachintorn, who wants to include this data to help track and evaluate education-related development goals.
Citing the same study, Mr Chaipreuk said while the average number of school years is on the rise in 60 provinces, 16 provinces have seen a drop.
The latter group includes Kanchanaburi, Chon Buri, Chai Nat and Chaiyaphum.
Samut Prakan is the only province that has not seen any change, at 10.49 years.