Thailand extends school milk program to junior high, adding 582,947 students
Thailand’s cabinet has approved adding grades 7-9 at educational opportunity expansion schools to the national school milk program. The measure adds 582,947 eligible students and is expected to increase raw milk procurement by 87.202 tonnes per day.
Cabinet widens eligibility for school milk
Thailand’s cabinet has approved an extension of the national school milk program to students in grades 7-9 at educational opportunity expansion schools, bringing a new group of 582,947 students into the scheme. The program previously covered children from pre-primary education through grade 6, leaving junior high students at these schools outside the allocation.
The Bangkok Insight reported that the newly eligible students are predominantly from families facing financial constraints. The government presents the measure as a way to improve access to suitable nutrition during a period of physical growth while reducing household expenses. The enlarged target population will combine the existing pre-primary and primary school recipients with grades 7-9 at the designated schools.
Raw milk purchases to rise
The policy also creates an additional outlet for Thailand’s domestic dairy sector. According to Bangkok Biz News, Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Watcharaphon Khaokham said the expansion would raise raw milk procurement by 87.202 tonnes per day. Total student coverage will rise from about 6 million to more than 6.6 million.
The additional demand is intended to absorb more raw milk into the processing system, ease the domestic surplus and support income for dairy farmers. It also gives processors and other participants across the dairy supply chain a larger guaranteed market. For producers, the procurement increase provides a defined source of demand at a time when excess raw milk has been putting pressure on the domestic market.
Deliveries planned from November 2026
The government plans to begin supplying milk to the new student group in November 2026, during the second semester of the 2026 academic year. Because the first semester has already begun, the Cabinet Secretariat recommended aligning deliveries with the remaining teaching period. The Bangkok Insight said the proposed supply schedule would therefore be reduced from the standard 260 days to approximately 145 days, with the budget adjusted to reflect the shorter implementation period.
For the 2027 academic year, the combined target group is set to include students from pre-primary through grade 6 nationwide and grades 7-9 at educational opportunity expansion schools. The decision links a social nutrition program directly to agricultural market management: schools gain wider milk coverage, while farmers and processors receive demand for another 87.202 tonnes of raw milk each day. The effectiveness of the measure for the dairy market will depend on timely procurement, processing and distribution across the expanded school network.
