Privately-run schools have refunded parents for services that were not delivered during school closures stemming from the second Covid-10 outbreak, according to the Office of the Private Education Commission (Opec).
The office said 524 private schools nationwide have returned a total of 561 million baht to parents who prepaid fees during the current school term for various services.
Opec secretary-general Atthapol Truektrong said yesterday the virus outbreak forced schools in affected provinces to suspend onsite classes for several weeks and switch to online learning. The classes mostly resumed at the start of this month.
The Education Ministry has issued a directive to the schools to pay back fees for unused services and expenses including lunches, milk, computers, extra language classes, swimming and sports activities.
He said the reimbursements were made to parents in the form of cash or discounts on school fees for the next term.
Meanwhile, Deputy Education Minister Kanokwan Vilawan said Opec has approved a 35% hike in subsidies for disabled students at private schools.
The hike was given the go-ahead at a meeting of Opec executives chaired by Ms Kanokwan yesterday.
Privately-owned, general education schools and private vocational schools will benefit from the subsidy increase which will be put to the Budget Bureau for further vetting. There are 4,476 disabled students in private general-education schools and 1,718 in private vocational institutions in Thailand.