Old-school Thai

'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance,' says Stuart Morris, in his sternest headmasterly manner, before breaking into a grin. It's a proposition that seems to be gaining currency in Asia, particularly Thailand, where increasing numbers of parents are enrolling their children in pricy international schools.

With Thailand's state education system beset by problems - cheating, a heavy emphasis on rote learning and a stalled reform programme that has become a political football - it's easy to see the attraction of these schools, the most expensive of which are 'franchises' of venerable British public schools.

Morris came to Bangkok to take the reins at Harrow International School when it opened four years ago, then 'defected' last year to its newer rival in Bangkok, Shrewsbury International School (pictured), taking some of his best teachers with him. Both establishments moved into Thailand following the success of Thailand's first famous school franchise, Dulwich International College, which sits on a lush hillside on the resort island of Phuket - a far cry from the London home of its original. With their sleek modern architecture under sunny Thailand skies, none of the three schools bears an iota of similarity to the ivy-covered piles of their British namesakes, but parents love that 'old school-tie' connection. Annual tuition fees at each of the schools exceed 300,000 baht (almost HK$60,000), but that's a price they are happy to pay in Thailand's booming post-crash economy.

'Harrow went from 70 students to more than 800 in a couple of years,' says Morris. 'And at hrewsbury when we opened in September last year we already had 620 pupils enrolled. This is one of the fastest-growing industries in Thailand.'

The number of international schools has grown from five in 1991, when the Anand Panyarachun government lifted restrictions on them (with the caveat that only 50 per cent of the student population could be Thai and the rest had to be foreigners), to 75, with more than 60,000 students enrolled. Most of the teachers are Britons, with a smattering of Australians and Canadians.

'The schools are popping up like mushrooms after the rain,' says Morris. 'I think the best ones will flourish, while some that jumped on the bandwagon may well go under.'

Needless to say, Shrewsbury is one of the best. No expense has been spared by its developer, property tycoon Chali Sophonpanich (son of Bangkok Bank supremo Chatri Sophonpanich), who will have sunk more than 2 billion baht into the school by the time it is completed. It