Scholarships and Thai Cultural Structure: Inequality Reflected Through Numbers

This article presents a structural analysis of the cost of education in Thai society, highlighting economic and cultural inequalities reflected through financial data from kindergarten to higher education. Statistical evidence shows that the financial burden differs significantly across social classes ranging from just over one million baht for lower-class families to nearly sixty million baht for upper-class households. Meanwhile, the growth of private and international schools contrasts with the overall decline in student population, further amplifying disparities between social groups. Education in Thailand has therefore become more than an investment in knowledge; it embodies social, cultural and network capital that profoundly shapes access to opportunities and social status. The article underscores that without structural reform, education will continue to reproduce inequality rather than serve as a genuine ladder of opportunity for all Thai children.