Basic Education

Basic education consists of four levels that are “three years of pre-primary education, six years of primary education, three years of lower secondary, and three years of upper secondary education” (ONEC, 2008:23).

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Pre-primary education or early childhood education is not compulsory. There are many types of schooling for children of the ages 3-5, provided by both the state and private sectors. The National Education Act B.E. 2542 states in section 18 paragraph (1) that:

“early childhood education shall be provided in the following institutions: Child Care Centres, Child Development Centres, Pre-school Child Development Centres of Religious Institutions, Initial Care centres of Disabled Children or those with Special Needs, or early childhood development centres under other names.” (ONEC, 2001)

A wide range of approaches, such as Neo-Humanist Education, Waldorf Education, Montessori's Concept, High/Scope Curriculum, Reggio Emilia Approach, the Project Approach, Whole Language Approach, Metal-Science Learning, and Portfolio Assessment are used. Over 74 per cent of children aged 3 to 5 receive early childhood education. The majority of this education is provided by government primary schools. At the same time, the government has encouraged private schools and local government to take charge in this level (BIC, 2008).

Basic education in Thailand is divided into 6 years of primary schooling, 3 years of lower secondary schooling and 3 years of upper secondary schooling. Compulsory education is 9 years, to the completion of the lower secondary. However, all students are expected to complete 12 years. For the academic year 2007, there were 4 million students enrolled in primary level, 2.26 million enrolled in the lower secondary, and 2.89 million enrolled in the upper secondary. The national curriculum has eight core subjects. These are Thai language, mathematics, sciences, social studies - religion and culture, health and physical education, arts, careers and technology, and foreign languages. Local wisdom and culture are also integrated into each of the core subjects. The promotion of thinking skills, self-learning strategies and moral development is at the heart of teaching and learning in the Thai National Curriculum (BIC, 2008).

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has a more specific character than other parts of Thailand. There is the Islamic education system parallel with the public education system provided by the government. Although there are both Islamic and secular national schools, 85 percent of Malay-Muslim students attend Islamic schools because Malay-Muslims view national schools as essentially Buddhist schools. This caused the attendance of national schools in the Malay-Muslim areas of southern areas to be lower than anywhere in Thailand (Liow, 2009:48).

The Islamic education system in Thailand provides six levels from nursery to higher education:

1) Sekolah Anubahn (nursery); 2) Raudah (pre-primary);

3) Tadika (Taman Didikan Kanak or primary); 4) Pondok;

5) Islamic Private Schools or Private Schools Teaching Islam, also known as Madrasah (Arabic); Sekolah Agama Rakyat or Sekolah Agama Suasta (Malay), and Rongrian Ekachon Sorn Sasna Islam (Thai);

6) Institut Pengajian Tinggi (Universities and tertiary education institutions). (Ibid: 49)

Firstly, Sekolah Anubahn is a child-care facility for infants and toddlers. Secondly,

Rawdah is a pre-school development centre which is run by local mosques. Thirdly, Tadika is a centre for religious and educational training, also run by local mosques. Tadika is an after-school religious course for children in grades one to six. There are

currently 1,612 centres teaching Tadika which have registered with the Islamic Religious and Moral Education. There are approximately 173 thousand students and more than 4 thousand teachers. Fourthly, Pondok or Ponoh are private Islamic boarding schools or private Islamic schools. According to Liow’s report (2004b), Pondock mainly taught Islamic education, which revolved around prayer and memorising the

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did not accredit it. Pondok depends on peoples’ donations. Some Pondoks have been developed into modern Islamic private schools, have registered with the government and receive both budget and training. This type of school uses a modern curriculum combining Islamic education and Thai academic education. In 2007, 47 Pondok schools used both Islam and general education subjects, and 101 Pondok schools, or private Islamic boarding schools, teach Islam only (ONEC, 2008:189). Fifthly, Islamic Private Schools or Private Schools Teaching Islam, also known as Madrasah (Arabic), Sekolah Agama Rakyat or Sekolah Agama Suasta (Malay), and Rongrian Ekachon Sorn Sasna Islam (Thai). Sixthly, Institut Pengajian Tinggi (Universities and tertiary education institutions) is higher education. Islamic higher education offers four-year programmes for Bachelor’s degrees and two years for Master Degrees at Yala Islamic University. There are three faculties - Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences, and Faculty of Islamic Study (YIU, 2010).

For the issue of Islamic education in southern Thailand, some studies revealed that Pondok schools were used for the network of manifesting their politics as stated by McCargo (2004:3):

“In the deep South, Malay Muslim politics clearly has a very distinctive character, manifesting itself in resistance to centralised Buddhist education through a network of Islamic pondok schools.”

This was confirmed by Melvin (2007:22), a researcher at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in that: “a number of pondoks seem to have played an important role

in spreading radical Islamist ideology.” Furthermore, educational outcomes for

children in southern Thailand have been poor. They were not being prepared to compete in the country’s modern job market. Few of them can get places in Thai universities (HRW, 2010).