Education Ministry Takes Action: White School Program Cancelled, Six Redundant Projects Eliminated to Reduce Teacher Workload

On May 27, 2025, Education Minister Prasert Chantharueangthong, Deputy Minister Akornnan Kankittinant, and ministry officials announced the 'Work Smart' policy aimed at reducing teacher workload by eliminating redundant and unnecessary programs. The initiative seeks to return teaching time to educators so they can focus on students during the new semester and achieve better work-life balance.

Chantharueangthong noted that despite the new semester opening, field visits revealed that many teachers remain burdened with paperwork, evaluation duties, procurement tasks, and overlapping projects that compromise teaching time. Data shows that 47.7% of teachers believe these burdens affect teaching quality, while over 63% cannot maintain work-life balance.

The minister identified excessive documentation and redundant project evaluations as the primary complaints from teachers, particularly the White School Program which duplicates existing student support systems, and ITA reporting requirements that should only occur at the departmental level under the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

"The Education Ministry must advance the work smart approach to eliminate unnecessary burdens and return teachers to their most important responsibility: caring for students," Chantharueangthong stated, emphasizing that the goal is not to reduce child development objectives but to eliminate redundant work processes. Safety, drug prevention, and character development initiatives will remain priorities, with education area offices now providing oversight rather than requiring schools to produce their own reports.

The ministry also plans to integrate data systems so teachers enter information once but can generate multiple reports, and will gradually transfer procurement, finance, and administrative tasks for small schools to the Office of the Basic Education Commission.

Chantharueangthong stressed that reducing teacher workload represents a fundamental shift in how Thailand's education system operates, ultimately giving teachers more classroom time, schools greater autonomy, and students higher-quality education.

Deputy Minister Akornnan announced that the White School Program will be cancelled immediately in fiscal year 2570, with six additional programs also having their evaluations, reporting, and competitions eliminated: online ITA assessment activities, four-star and five-star virtuous school evaluations, student competency improvement projects aligned with international assessment frameworks, OBEC Channel advancement initiatives, learning innovation research and development projects, and health and physical education promotion programs. Supervising agencies will notify schools of these changes.