Fear and prejudice should not decide who are entitled to receive education. Yet Thailand risks moving towards exactly that.
The Setthakit Party's proposal to amend Section 54 of the constitution so that only Thai children receive free education in public schools deserves to be rejected outright.
Its argument sounds simple enough: taxpayers' money should go first to Thai citizens. Migrant and foreign children, the party says, should pay for their own schooling so more resources can be directed to Thai students.
The proposal reflects something deeper than budget concerns. Hostility towards migrants has been growing amid widespread hate speech on social media. The recent Thai-Cambodian border conflict made things worse, stirring nationalist emotions and ugly attacks against one another.
But these feelings did not appear overnight. They are shaped by how Thailand tells its own history.
For decades, school textbooks have framed neighbouring countries largely through war, invasion and territorial loss. Myanmar occupies a particularly bitter place in Thai historical memory because of the fall of Ayutthaya. Generations of Thais grew up hearing stories of Burmese armies burning the old capital to the ground.
At the same time, official nationalism promotes the idea that Thailand belongs to a singular Thai race. Diversity is downplayed, and assimilation is rewarded.
But this version of history is incomplete. Thailand has never been culturally homogeneous. This land has long been a crossroads of peoples, languages and trade routes. "Thai" is not a race but a language and a shared civic identity adopted across communities over centuries.
Today's anti-migrant politics ignores that reality. It also ignores economic reality.
Migrant workers from neighbouring countries form the backbone of many labour-intensive industries in Thailand. The economy depends heavily on their work, whether conservatives choose to admit it or not.
Also, Thailand is now a fully aged society with a shrinking workforce. Businesses already struggle to find young workers willing to take difficult, low-paid jobs. With education and work skills, migrant children can grow up to become valuable contributors to the country.
The children targeted by this proposal have fled war atrocities, persecution and harsh poverty in their home countries. Education is the only fragile bridge keeping migrant children from exploitation, child labour, trafficking and crime. Forcing their poor families to pay education fees would push them out of classrooms altogether.
Ironically, many who want to take away education opportunities from poor migrant children are themselves descendants of Chinese migrant workers who fled hardship in China not so long ago. Thanks to education, they gained work and life opportunities. Many became tycoons, politicians and even prime ministers.
That is how educational opportunities empower people and their new home country.
Thailand once understood this. The "Education for All" policy adopted in 2005 to tackle the influx of migrant children was one of the country's most humane and forward-looking decisions. It guaranteed education for every child in Thailand regardless of nationality or legal status. The policy won international praise because it recognised a basic truth: denying children education creates alienation, frustration and larger social problems later.
Yet pressure against migrant education has steadily mounted. Migrant workers have become scapegoats for economic frustrations. Education for migrant children is now a target.
Consequently, many schools started rejecting migrant children. Several migrant learning centres have been raided and shut down, leaving thousands of children without schooling. The situation worsened after the Myanmar conflict intensified. In Tak, local education authorities attempted to bar war refugee children from public schools altogether despite directives from the Office of the Basic Education Commission ordering schools to admit them.
There were also cases of migrant children being detained and deported after attending school. Educators and shelter operators who helped them faced criminal charges. These actions do not protect society, but undermine it. Many migrant children cannot easily enter Thai public schools because they speak little Thai or lack documents.
That is why migrant learning centres exist. Instead of shutting them down, authorities should support them, supervise standards and strengthen Thai-language education so children can integrate more safely into society.
