BANGKOK, 8 February 2014 Schools are ready to enroll new students for the new school year, but the problem remains that most parents try to lobby for places at popular schools without considering the benefits of enrolling their children into less competitive institutes, according to the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC).
According OBEC secretary-general Aphichat Chirawut, applications for the 2014 school year will be accepted during February 27-March 3 for the primary level, whereas applications for the secondary level will commence during March 20-24. He added that all schools were ready to accept new students and there should be no problems in the process, except for the long-standing issue of parents trying to get their children into higher-standing schools.
For this year, the OBEC has told executives of such schools to use their judgement when it comes to taking in new students, as the OBEC will not interfere with the issue of limited seats at these schools.
Mr. Aphichat noted that parents should ponder the effects on their children when they are sent into such competitive schools without meeting the criteria standard established by these institutes. In addition, children enrolled at less competitive schools also have better chances of receiving university quotas, which are distributed to every school. Many other schools can now rival the popular schools in terms of quality, which makes them good alternatives for top-tier schools.
