An English Programme is the Thai curriculum, taught in English
Start with the register, because the register settles it.
The Office of the Private Education Commission, at the Ministry of Education, publishes a list of the schools running an English Programme. The list’s own title is the definition: “รายชื่อโรงเรียนที่เปิดสอนโครงการจัดการเรียนการสอนตามหลักสูตรกระทรวงศึกษาธิการเป็นภาษาอังกฤษ” — the list of schools running the project of teaching according to the Ministry of Education’s curriculum, in English.
Read that twice, because it is the whole point. An English Programme is a language of delivery applied to the Thai national curriculum. It is not a foreign curriculum, and the ministry does not describe it as one. A child in an English Programme is being taught the same curriculum as a child down the road in a Thai-medium classroom, in a different language.
An international school is a different school type, with a foreign curriculum
OPEC treats an international school as its own type of in-system school — โรงเรียนในระบบ ประเภทนานาชาติ — with its own route for having a curriculum considered before it may be used.
The document set OPEC asks for tells you what that type is. Alongside the school’s own curriculum, it asks for a foreign curriculum, and separately for a curriculum covering Thai language, Thai culture and Thai history. OPEC’s own service page also names an announcement of 17 June 2025 setting out how that Thai subject teaching is to be delivered in international-type schools.
So the Thai subjects are not an optional extra a school adds if it feels like it, and the foreign curriculum is not a marketing description — it is a document the ministry expects to see.
Side by side
Sourced on both sides to the ministry’s own material, read 7 September 2026. Blanks are blanks, not zeroes.
| English Programme (often marketed as bilingual) | International school | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is, officially | A project of teaching the Ministry of Education's curriculum in English, listed on OPEC's own register | A distinct type of in-system school - โรงเรียนในระบบ ประเภทนานาชาติ - with its own curriculum route |
| Curriculum the child is taught | The Thai national curriculum | A foreign curriculum, submitted to OPEC as its own document |
| Thai language, culture and history | Inherent - it is the Thai curriculum | A separate curriculum document in OPEC's required set, with an OPEC announcement of 17 June 2025 on how it is delivered |
| Can you verify the label yourself | Yes - OPEC publishes a dated register of the schools running it; the copy we opened was as of 1 July B.E. 2569 | Not from a single dated public list that we could open; ask the school for its OPEC curriculum documentation |
| Is the term used by the ministry | Yes - 'English Programme' is the register's own wording | Yes - 'international' is the school type's own name |
| Is 'bilingual' used by the ministry | Not on anything we could open - it is a school's own word | Not applicable |
| Typical fees | Not stated - no official fee data exists for either category | Not stated - same reason |
| Number of schools | Not stated - the register's total was not extractable from the page we opened | Not stated |
Curricula, areas and how schools cluster: international schools in Thailand. What they cost: the cost of international schools.
Where the two are the same
More than the marketing suggests, and this is the half that rarely gets written.
Both sit under the same ministry and the same private-education body. Both have a curriculum the ministry expects to see documented before it is taught. Both are expected to teach Thai language, culture and history to the pupils in front of them — one because that is simply the curriculum, the other because it is a separate requirement of the type. Neither label tells you anything about class size, teacher turnover, pastoral care, the state of the buildings, or whether the school is any good, and none of those things is on any register.
And the labels are not price bands. A well-regarded Thai school’s English Programme and a small international school can overlap on fees, and frequently do.
What to actually do before you pay a deposit
Three things, in this order, all doable in an afternoon.
Ask which examinations the child will sit at the end, by name. That single question separates the categories faster than any brochure, and it is the one that determines what happens when the child is eighteen.
Check the claim against the register. If a school says English Programme, OPEC’s list is public and dated. A school that is not on the current version is not necessarily doing anything wrong — registers lag — but it is a reasonable thing to ask about.
Ask an international-type school to show you its Thai provision — the Thai language, culture and history curriculum, and how it is timetabled. It is part of what OPEC asks for, so the school will have it, and how readily it is produced tells you something.
What we could not confirm
Stated plainly rather than filled in.
There is no official definition of “bilingual” on anything we could open, and none of “Mini English Programme” either. The ministry’s register uses English Programme; the rest is school vocabulary, and we are not going to manufacture a definition to fill a table cell. We also do not print school counts — the register’s total and its provincial breakdown were not extractable from the page. There is no list here of which foreign curricula may be used, because OPEC’s page names the document set rather than enumerating acceptable curricula. There are no hours or year-by-year requirements for Thai subjects in international-type schools: the 17 June 2025 announcement is named on OPEC’s page but the announcement itself was not obtainable to us on 7 September 2026. And there are no fees, and no teacher-qualification or accreditation rules, for the same reason in each case — we did not have the primary document.
Who each suits
No winner. The question is which examination system the child ends up in, and where they are when that happens.
| An English Programme suits you if | An international school suits you if |
|---|---|
| The family expects to stay in Thailand through the school years | The family may move again, to a country that reads a particular qualification |
| A Thai university, or a Thai-curriculum route onward, is plausible | The child is heading for a university system tied to the foreign curriculum taught |
| You want the child fluent and literate in Thai as a matter of course | You want Thai taught properly but the academic spine to be the foreign one |
| You are choosing among strong Thai schools and want English delivery | You want a peer group and a calendar that match an overseas system |
| You would rather verify the label on the ministry's own dated register | You are willing to ask the school directly for its curriculum documentation |
Where families actually live for each: the area guides on the Thailand hub, and current stock near them in residences.
Frequently asked questions
The curriculum, and it is on the Ministry of Education's own record rather than a matter of opinion. The Office of the Private Education Commission publishes a register of schools running an English Programme, and the register's own title describes it as the project of teaching according to the Ministry of Education's curriculum, in English. So an English Programme is the Thai national curriculum delivered in English. An international school is something else: OPEC treats it as a distinct type of in-system school, and the documents it asks for before a curriculum may be used include a foreign curriculum, plus a separate curriculum for Thai language, Thai culture and Thai history. One is the Thai curriculum in another language; the other is a different curriculum.
Not on anything we could open. The ministry's own register uses the term English Programme. Bilingual is a word schools use in their own marketing, and it can mean an English Programme, a partial English Programme, or simply that some subjects are taught in English. We are not going to give you a definition the ministry does not publish. What we can tell you is what to do about it: ask the school which curriculum the child will actually be examined on, and check the ministry's register.
OPEC publishes the list, and it is dated - the version we opened on 7 September 2026 carried an as-of date of 1 July B.E. 2569. That means you can check a school's claim against the ministry's own register rather than against its prospectus, which is a rare thing to be able to do in school admissions anywhere. If a school describes itself as English Programme and is not on the current register, that is a question worth asking the school directly before you pay a deposit.
Thai language, Thai culture and Thai history appear as their own item in the document set OPEC asks an international-type school for, separately from the school curriculum and the foreign curriculum. OPEC's own page also names an announcement of 17 June 2025 setting out how that teaching is to be delivered in international-type schools. We have not reproduced the hours or the year-by-year requirements here, because the announcement itself was not obtainable to us on 7 September 2026 - ask the school to show you its Thai subject provision and how it is timetabled.
We are not putting a fee table on this page, and the reason is that no official fee data exists for either category. What is published is each school's own prospectus, and a comparison table built from those goes stale within a year and quietly turns a school's marketing into our editorial claim. We keep the fee discussion in one place instead. The more useful thing to hold in your head while you shop is that the categories are not price bands: an English Programme at a well-regarded Thai school and a small international school can overlap.
This page declines to declare a winner, and it is not being coy. If your child is likely to finish school in Thailand or continue into a Thai university, being taught the Thai curriculum - in English or otherwise - keeps that path straightforward. If your family may move again, or the child is heading for a university system that reads a particular foreign qualification, a school teaching that curriculum removes a translation problem later. The question is not which is better. It is which examination system the child is going to sit at the end, and where.
School first, then the address.
Families almost always pick the school and then discover what the commute to it is like. Work out the curriculum question, then look at what is available within a sensible journey of it.
General information only, not legal or educational advice, and not a recommendation of any school. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal: it does not own, lease, manage or control any property listed on this site and is not a party to any lease or sale. School registers, curricula and ministry requirements change; confirm anything you intend to act on with the Office of the Private Education Commission, the Ministry of Education and the school itself. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
Sources
- รายชื่อโรงเรียนที่เปิดสอนโครงการจัดการเรียนการสอนตามหลักสูตรกระทรวงศึกษาธิการเป็นภาษาอังกฤษ (English Program) — dated register ↗Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC), Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Thailand · Accessed 7 September 2026
- เอกสารประกอบการพิจารณาหลักสูตร โรงเรียนในระบบ ประเภทนานาชาติ (curriculum approval documents for in-system international-type schools), incl. the OPEC announcement of 17 June 2025 on Thai language, culture and history ↗Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC), Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Thailand · Accessed 7 September 2026
- Ministry of Education, Thailand ↗
Official primary sources are listed above with the date we last checked them. Thai rules, fees, thresholds and procedures change and can be applied differently by individual offices and embassies — confirm the current requirement with the responsible authority before relying on it. General information only, not legal, tax or medical advice. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.