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People's Party lawmaker Parit Wacharasindhu warns Thailand faces economic decline and deepening inequality unless it radically reforms its education system within a decade.
A People's Party lawmaker has delivered a stark warning that Thailand risks becoming a less competitive and more unequal society unless it fundamentally overhauls its education system, calling for sweeping legislative, budgetary, and curricular reforms within the next ten years.
Parit Wacharasindhu, a prominent member of the opposition People's Party, made the remarks on Monday at the Nation Visionary Club roundtable held under the theme 'Beyond the Classroom: Thai Education Beyond Borders' — a forum convening thought leaders, educators, and students to explore concrete solutions to the country's education challenges.
Speaking from a policy perspective, Parit characterised the current Thai education system as a systemic failure defined by the absence of two qualities he termed "Efficiency and Empathy."
A System That Has Stopped Working
Parit identified three core problems at the surface of Thailand's education crisis: schooling fails to translate classroom hours into real-world skills; it generates widespread unhappiness among students, parents, and teachers alike; and it has actively damaged — rather than nurtured — learning potential through excessive homework and high-stakes examinations.
Underlying these symptoms, he argued, are structural flaws that have gone unaddressed for years. Despite the Ministry of Education receiving one of the highest budget allocations in the national government, he said the system fails to convert that public investment into genuinely free or high-quality schooling.
Thai students endure some of the longest compulsory school hours in the world, he noted, yet the country has seen no corresponding improvement in global competitiveness or PISA rankings.
"Our system is lacking two key factors: Efficiency and Empathy," Parit told the roundtable.
On the empathy front, he argued that policy decisions consistently ignore the individual needs of students, prioritising academic performance while disregarding physical and mental wellbeing.
A High Floor, No Ceiling
Parit's vision for reform centres on the principle of a system with "a high floor and no ceiling"—one that guarantees a minimum standard of high-quality, truly free education for every Thai citizen, while removing barriers that cap individual potential.
His proposed roadmap encompasses four pillars.
First, he called for an overhaul of budget and resource allocation, urging the abandonment of the current "per-head" funding formula, which he said disadvantages smaller schools by failing to cover their fixed costs. In its place, he advocated a model that ensures every school — regardless of size — has a dedicated teacher for each year group.
Second, Parit proposed meaningful decentralisation, granting school principals greater autonomy over curricula and budgets, supported by school boards that include students, parents, and local community members.
Third, he stressed the necessity of legislative stability through the passage of a new National Education Bill — a piece of legislation he noted has been discussed for years without ever being enacted.
Fourth, and perhaps most pointedly, he called for a complete modernisation of the curriculum, with a focus on skills such as critical thinking and the ability to ask the right questions.
He also advocated for the integration of artificial intelligence as a personalised learning tool, while cautioning that technology should complement rather than replace the "empathetic touch" of teachers.
The iPhone Test
Parit illustrated the urgency of curriculum reform with a striking analogy that drew on the pace of technological change. "If in 10 years' time we're still using the curriculum that hasn't been revised majorly since the introduction of the first iPhone, then I think we are in big trouble," he said.
The first iPhone was launched in 2007 — nearly two decades ago — a period that has seen the rise of smartphones, social media, cloud computing, and generative artificial intelligence reshape virtually every industry.
His remark was directed at the slow pace of official curriculum revision, which he suggested has failed to keep pace with the transformation of the world students will enter after graduation.
He was equally blunt on the question of access.
"We would fail as a country if the only way to access good quality education is by international schools," he said, in a pointed reference to the growing gap between elite private institutions and the state school system.
A Decade to Change Course
Parit concluded his remarks using a "time machine" metaphor to frame three specific changes he hopes to see realised within ten years: the passage of a new National Education Bill; a complete transformation of the budgetary model away from per-head allocation; and a thoroughly modernised curriculum.
The cost of inaction, he warned, would be measured in three ways: a less competitive national economy, a more deeply unequal society, and a country less attractive to both its own citizens and the wider world.
The roundtable at which Parit spoke forms part of a broader national conversation about the future of Thai education, bringing together voices from politics, civil society, and the classroom floor in search of a shared path forward.
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