The staggering socio-economic cost of out-of-school children is undeniable, with global estimates reaching up to 10 trillion USD—a staggering 0.3-2.0% of GDP in ASEAN alone. Intensifying this crisis, rapid demographic shifts unfold, as countries such as Singapore and Thailand report their lowest-ever fertility rates—1.04 and 1.32 children per woman, respectively, in 2025. Against this backdrop of technological strides, climate challenges, and economic transformations, discussions at the AVPN SEA Summit converge around a singular theme: the undeniable power of education. Invaluable is every child today, for tomorrow’s population will largely be elderly and without income; and without opportunity to learn, none can thrive. Through the lens of SDG Goal 4, education’s transformative potential rises as the cornerstone of the region’s future. In Thailand, one such effort to tackle this issue head-on is the “Thailand Zero Dropout” initiative, a groundbreaking approach aimed at ensuring no child is left behind, regardless of their circumstances. What fuels its success? The answer lies in the details of the keynote speech by Dr. Kraiyos Patrawart, Managing Director of the Equitable Education Fund (EEF) Thailand — let’s unravel them!
Thailand Zero Dropout
Ensuring Every Child Has a Path to Learning through 3 Key Principles:
Make it Local —— Make it Flexible —— Make it Comprehensive
“Make It Comprehensive”
- Core Principle: A unified, holistic framework that addresses dropout as a multi-dimensional issue, considering social, economic, and environmental factors.
- Main Action: Mobilize 21 government agencies, cross-sector partnerships and fundings, and public awareness not merely to reintegrate or prevent dropout but to unlock every child’s full potential, ensuring their long-term success.
Once out-of-school children are identified,
their information is shared with local agencies to coordinate reintegration:
immediate re-entry for those prepared
and tailored care and rehabilitation to support eventual re-entry for those unprepared.
“Make It Local”
- Core Principle: Community-driven reintegration, with local networks at the subdistrict, district, and provincial levels taking ownership, easing the burden on central government.
- Main Action: Empower local volunteers — known as case managers — to coordinate support, ensuring swift, tailored interventions and scalable impact from 25 provinces nationwide.
Only then will education access be ensured,
keeping students engaged and ensuring long-term success:
without flexibility, even if children are reintegrated, they may eventually leave again
if their learning doesn’t align with their individual needs and goals.
“Make It Flexible”
- Core Principle: Adapting learning to individual needs by breaking free from traditional classroom constraints and embracing flexible, anytime, anywhere education.
- Main Action: Implement mobile and work-based learning, offering diverse academic and vocational pathways aligned with students’ talents and interests, along with a Credit Bank system to validate informal experiences towards formal qualifications.
Make it sustainable by fostering a supportive and inclusive ecosystem from local to national,
ensuring coordinated support, adaptive learning, and continuous community engagement
that perpetuates growth and reintegration.
The Thailand Zero Dropout initiative is built on three core principles: Make it Local, Make it Flexible, and Make it Comprehensive. At its foundation, Make it Local empowers communities to take ownership of reintegration, mobilizing local networks to provide swift, tailored support, while Make it Flexible dismantles rigid educational structures, offering adaptable pathways such as mobile and work-based learning, with a Credit Bank system formalizing informal learning. Together, these principles pave the way for Make it Comprehensive, which frames dropout as a multi-dimensional challenge, requiring not just reintegration but the activation of government agencies, cross-sector partnerships, and public engagement to unlock their full potential. This integrated approach ensures a coordinated, long-term response rather than isolated interventions.
In its first year, the initiative mobilized over 75,000 volunteers across 26 provinces, locating and reintegrating 304,082 out-of-school children—a movement set to expand nationwide by 2026. However, 982,304 children and youth remain outside the system, spanning pre-compulsory, compulsory, and post-compulsory education levels. Their movement in and out of education reflects deeper economic and social pressures, highlighting that access alone is insufficient. Addressing dropout requires a shift in societal attitudes—one that fosters supportive learning environments and prioritizes both prevention and reintegration. To drive meaningful change, the EEF and its partners focus on two key actions: strategic planning to navigate systemic challenges and deep empathy to understand the lived realities of affected children.
Looking ahead, Thailand must move beyond access to education and towards fostering environments where every child can thrive. This requires community-driven solutions that empower local actors to co-design adaptive learning ecosystems suited to their unique contexts, with a particular focus being placed on amplifying the voices of out-of-school youth, ensuring their experiences shape future interventions. Past efforts have shown that when children feel safe and valued, they unlock their creativity and strengths in unexpected ways. Moving forward, the goal is to cultivate spaces that not only provide education but also nurture self-discovery and long-term growth. The next phase of flexible educational management will deepen its impact, both as a preventive measure and as a reintegration strategy. The EEF will refine and scale up its key initiatives to drive sustainable outcomes. These measures are central to the Thailand Zero Dropout initiative, guiding youth into “safe spaces” where they can unlock their potential and ensuring equal access to opportunities tailored to their life contexts.
EEF’s Key Initiatives to Create Safe Spaces Under Thailand Zero Dropout
Empowering Communities: Establish Learning Centers under Section 12 and collaborate with Learning Promotion Centers (LPC) to create flexible, locally driven learning opportunities.
- Strengthening Sub-District Initiatives: Engage local partners to transform model sub-districts into “Zero Dropout Sub-Districts,” ensuring every child remains in education.
- Expanding Proven Models District-wide: Scale up the “1-School-3-System” model to cover one school per district, providing diverse learning pathways.
- Driving Nationwide Impact: Implement the Education Security System, spearheaded by Equity Fund scholarships for disadvantaged youth; integrate career-focused “Learn to Earn” pathways; and harness technology through Mobile School and Credit Bank for seamless academic and vocational credit transfers.
Complementing the managing director’s keynote speech, the AVPN SEA Summit marked a significant milestone with the announcement of a groundbreaking collaboration between the EEF, AVPN, and Tri-Sector. This partnership will launch the Skilling and Livelihoods Vertical of the ImpactCollab Outcomes Marketplace in September 2025. Supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Gates Foundation, the initiative presents a vital opportunity to deepen the partnership between public agencies and private sector funders, facilitating the sharing of knowledge and resources to address the needs of out-of-school children. This momentum reinforces the urgent call for cross-sector collaboration to achieve the ambitious “ASEAN Zero Dropout” vision by 2030. The summit highlighted the profound cost of inaction, urging all sectors to reassess and innovate in order to tackle the widespread educational inequality facing the region.
The discussions at the summit made one thing clear: the future of Southeast Asia
hinges on a unified, concerted effort to ensure educational equity for all. The Thailand Zero Dropout initiative stands as a testament to the transformative power of community-driven solutions in bridging the gaps that leave millions of children and youth on the sidelines. However, such progress requires not just the collaboration of governments and NGOs, but the active engagement of every sector and individual. The time for passive observation has passed; the future demands a collective response to ensure that no child is left behind. As Dr. Kraiyos Patrawart’s keynote emphasized, education remains the most powerful investment for ASEAN today, and it is this shared investment — across all sectors — that will unlock the full potential of the region’s children and youth, driving sustainable growth and prosperity for all.
All For Education is all about people; only when all is in for education is Education For All. Join the movement to reduce educational inequality. Support the EEF by donating to fund research, partnerships, and assistance for children, youth, and adults in need of educational support. Click the link to contribute today and help create a society where education is open and equal for all. Together, we can make a lasting impact.
