The Private Education Commission is planning to raise the annual tuition-fee ceiling for high-vocational education programmes from Bt30,000 to Bt40,000.

The plan will be put to Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang. If approved, it will take effect in the upcoming academic year.

An informed source said the plan would be tailored to respond to the launch of government's income-contingent loan scheme (ICL).

Starting from the upcoming semester, the ICL scheme will allow loans for any interested student at higher education level, including the high-vocational education programme to help them afford their studies. Students in high-vocational programmes can seek up to Bt50,000 a year from the scheme.

Under ICL, students can only start making repayments after they get a job with paid salary of at least Bt16,000 a month. The loan sum will be subject to inflation rates calculated when the loan is granted.

"We believe the ceiling raise will not affect students because they can turn to ICL," Education Commis-sion head Anusorn Thaidecha said.

At present, there are about 130,000 students in high-vocational education programmes at private institutes in the Kingdom.

Pichai Kaewsuwan, a senior official at the Education Ministry, also pointed out that the ministry would still ensure that tuition fees demanded by the schools were fair. The ministry closely checked vocational schools that demanded more than Bt21,800 annual tuition fees last year, even though the ceiling was set at Bt30,000.

The Bt21,800 ceiling had been in use up to the 2004 academic year.

"This is just the ceiling. The higher ceiling means that the schools with better facilities and quality can collect higher tuition fees, allowing them to improve themselves even further," he said. 

Urisara Kowitdamrong,

Puangchompoo Prasert

The Nation

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'Parents must agree to pay'

The Basic Education Commission (BEC) is drafting a new guideline on schools collecting additional fees from parents.

"So far, if the parents are not willing to pay, the schools will not be able to demand payments," BEC secretary general Pornnipa Limpa-phayom said yesterday.

Pornnipa said the BEC issued a guideline in 2004 listing which extra services schools could charge for.

However, the Ombudsman's office wrote to the BEC, saying such guidelines could be viewed as encouraging schools to demand fees.

"Our new guideline will clearly state that parents' willingness to pay is a must," Pornnipa said.

The Nation