The Cabinet, during its meeting on 28 January 2025, approved 7,987.51 million baht to provide financial support for the Equitable Education Fund (EEF) for use in the 2026 fiscal year to promote learning among needy students, develop teachers, and enhance cooperation and partnership with different groups.

The amount represents an increase of about 1,000 million baht, when compared to 6,983.65 million baht allocated to EEF in the 2025 fiscal year. It will be spent on five workplans with the following purposes.

1. To support education and learning for students living in extreme poverty, so that they will have greater educational opportunities;

2. To develop teachers, learning management units and education management models, and flexible education;

3. To promote cooperation with network partners for equitable education in order to help prevent students from dropping out of school and push for “zero dropout"; 

4. To disseminate and develop the body of knowledge, research, and innovation in order to create equality in education;

5. To manage and develop EEF as a learning organization.

The Government, through EEF, aims to subsidize about 1.35 million children and youths to bring them back into the formal education system and prevent them from dropping out of school. Many Thailand-based companies are funding EEF as part of their corporate social responsibility programs.

EEF was established under Thailand’s Equitable Education Act of 2018, with the aim of reducing education inequality through research, teacher development, and direct financial support for children and youths in need. It is under the supervision of the Prime Minister and is governed by a Board of Governance, which is appointed by the Cabinet.

The board members include five ministries, namely the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Public Health, and six independent experts from the academic field, private sector, and civil society.