The amount, however, was a sticking point in talks yesterday attended by representatives of the Education and Interior ministries and a decentralisation panel.

"We didn't reach any agreement as we have to discuss many issues further," caretaker Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang said after the discussion.

According to the Education Ministry, each provincial administrative organisation should be allowed to take over up to three schools. The limit for an "experienced" municipality should be two schools, while an "inexperienced" municipality should take over only one school. The "experience" here relates to educational-service management.

But the decentralisation panel preferred local administrative bodies be allowed to take over as many schools as they want, if they can pass qualification-check tests.

Chaturon said his ministry also disagreed with the decentralisation panel's proposal to remove many school types from the must-not-transfer list.

"We don't think we will approve the transfer of lab schools, royally-initiated schools, the only secondary school in a district and donor-funded schools," he said.

However, he said his ministry agreed to remove the following schools from the list: schools with teacher shortages, primary schools with over 300 students, secondary schools with over 1,500 students, and schools that failed to pass the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment standards.