What has gone wrong with inclusive education in Thailand?

• Published date: 01 May 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1563
• Author: Theeraphong Bualar
• Date: 01 May 2016

■Practitioner Paper

What has gone wrong with inclusive

education in Thailand?

Theeraphong Bualar*

Department of Public Administration, School of Political Science and Law, Burapha University, Chonburi, Thailand

This article critically reviews the inclusive education policy in Thailand. Since 1939, the Thai government has

promoted the right of persons with disabilities to education. However, very little is known about the reasons why

the inclusive education policy in Thailand has failed to motivate school-aged children to participate in mainstream

schools. This article argues that (i) the government has no coherent policy implementation; (ii) school teachers are

not well trained to deal with students with disabilities; and (iii) universal design is not well placed. These three major

factors have hindered the Thai government in its efforts to empower persons with disabilities through education.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

INTRODUCTION

It is estimated that over one billion of the world’s

population live with disabilities (World Health

Organization (WHO) 2011). Unfortunately, disabil-

ity has negatively affected the socio-economic status

of hundreds of millions of families worldwide, and

one area that is most affected is ‘educational

achievement’. Reportedly, one third of the world’s

education-deprived children live with disabilities

[United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO), 2010]. Disability and

marginalization in education are interwoven and

inextricably linked with development. Children

with disabilities from low-income countries have

experienced greater schooling exclusion than those

from rich countries (Mitra et al., 2011). Despite

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) requiring

equal opportunity in school participation, children

with disabilities continue to be left behind

(UNESCO, 2010).

The concept of inclusive education is highlighted

in many disability rights declarations at the global

level. Such concept aims to educate students with

impairments in the same classes as those who are

non-disabled. Inclusive education can be further

explained using a rights-based approach. This

approach has been well received because it precisely

corresponds to the theme of human development

that ensures entitlement to socio-economic re-

sources (Sen, 2000) and appears to be the way

forward for inclusive education. School-aged chil-

dren with disabilities have the right to be involved

in wider society. Inclusive education by the rights-

based approach entails capacity building among

students with disabilities to transform them into

meaningful contributors to society.

This approach implies the concepts of protection,

respect, facilitation and fulfilment. If inclusive edu-

cation is conducted using this approach, the school

participation rate will become greater and account-

ability will be encouraged, while obligation and

monitoring at all levels of society will safeguard

the rights of students with disabilities to appropri-

ate education. It can be best argued that inclusive

education helps establish a relationship between

students with disabilities and students without

disabilities.

However, appropriate education for people with

disabilities requires considerable socio-economic re-

sources from communities and government at all

levels. Consequently,entit lement to effective inclusive

*Correspondence to: Theeraphong Bualar, Department of Public

Administration, School of Political Science and Law, Burapha

University, 169 Longhard Road, Saen Sook, Muang District,

Chonburi, Thailand 20131.

E-mail: thiraphong@yahoo.com

Journal of Public Affairs

Volume 16 Number 2 pp 156–161 (2016)

Published online 14 April 2015 in Wiley Online Library

(www.wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pa.1563

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.