History
History
Office of the Education Council (OEC)
The Office of the Education Council, formerly known as “National Education Council (NEC)”, was founded on 14 February 1959 (B.E. 2502) by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, the Prime Minister, in compliance with the National Education Council Act (NEC Act) 1959. According to the NEC Act, the Office of the National Education Council was responsible for educational policy formulation and planning and providing recommendations including coordination with concerned agencies on educational development.
In 1972, a major change in the Office of the National Education Council’s roles occurred when the Bureau of State Universities and the Office of the Private Education Commission were established by Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn. This governmental restructuring led to the change of the Office of the National Education Council’s main responsibilities from focusing on higher education to educational policies and plans at all levels of education. The Office of the National Education Council was renamed the “Office of the National Education Commission (ONEC).”
The members of the National Education Council and the National Education Commission in each period were comprised of special experts and knowledgeable people from various sectors and organizations gathering to make educational plans for successive development.
On 7 July 2003, ONEC was renamed the “Office of the Education Council (OEC)” which is one of the five main organizations under the new structure of the Ministry of Education in line with the National Education Act 1999 (B.E. 2542) and Amendments 2002 (B.E. 2545) and the Administrative Organization of the Ministry of Education Act 2003.