Early Development
The Sukhothai Period (A.D.1238-1378)
Education in Thailand can be said to have
begun in the 13th century when Sukhothai was
Thailand's capital. In 1283, one of Sukhothai's
kings, Ramkamhaeng the Great created the first
Thai alphabet, using as its basis the Mon and
Khmer scripts which had, in turn, been derived
from a South Indian script. He employed for the
first time the new alphabet in his stone
inscription of 1292 at Sukhothai. Although
undergone extensive changes, parts of the
original alphabet are still in use.
The Sukhothai stone inscriptions recorded
aspects of education in moral, intellectual
and cultural terms. Throughout the Kingdom of
Sukhothai, two levels of education existed :-
Education provided by the Royal
Institution of Instruction (Rajabundit) to princes
and sons of nobles.
Education provided by the Buddhist monks to commoners.
The Ayutthaya Period
(A.D. 1350-1767)
The basic structure of education for the princes, boys of
noble birth, and commoners was
adopted by the court and people
of Ayutthaya and still prevailed
in the early reigns of the
Bangkok period.
If is worth mentioning
that during the reign of King
Narai the Great, a book for the
study of the Thai language
entitled Chindamani was written
and became a popular text book
in duetime. It continued to be in
use up to H.M.King Chulalongkorn's
reign (1868-1910). It is generally
accepted as the first textbook of the Thai language.
However, it should also be noted that such education was of
an academic type as it did not provide for occupational training
which was generally handed down within the family or acquired through
an apprenticeship.
Reform and Modernization
The Bangkok Period (1782 onwards)
After the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767, and following
a brief Thonburi Period, the capital city of
Bangkok was founded in 1728 by King Rama I
(1782-1809), the first King of the present
Chakri Dynasty. He made an impact on the
development of public education by reforming
the Buddhist Church.
Modern technology in the form of
the printing press entered Thailand with the
coming of Western missionaried and merchants
in the mid 1800's. For the first time, printed
books were available in the Thai language.
In 1858, King Rama IV (1851-1865)
commanded the government to establish a printing
press for its own use and began to print the
Royal Gazette or Rajkitchanubeksa which has
continued till the present day.
During the early Bangkok period, a
number of treaties were concluded with foreign
powers, mostly in the form of a Treaty of Friendship and Commerce.
Since English became the lingua franca of the Far East, King Rama IV
realized that the kind of education provided by the monastery and the
court was not adequate for future government officials. For this reason,
he commanded that measures be taken to modernize the education of the
country and a good knowledge of English would form a part of the new
educational requirements, as it had become a necessary key to further
knowledge as well as a medium of communication with foreigners.
The policy of educational modernization was further
pursued by King Rama V (1868-1910). Recognizing the need for
better-trained personnel in royal and governmental services, he
opened a school in the palace to educate young princes and the
sons of nobles in 1871. This was the first Thai school in the
modern sense as it had its own school building, lay teachers and
a time-table.
In 1871, immediately after the setting-up of the first
school, the Command Declaration on Schooling was issued for this
purpose. Although, it is interesting to note that the Command
Declaration on Schooling signifies the advent of a formal education
in the reign of King Rama V, the fact remains that the education
system at that time was essentially for the elite.
Soon afterwards, King Rama V set up an English school
in the palace to prepare princes and court children for further
studies abroad as well as a number of schools outside the palace
for the education of commoners'children.
In 1887, King Rama V established the Department of Education
to oversee the Kingdom's education and religious affairs. At the time
of its inception, the Department had under its jurisdiction, 34 schools
in the metropolitan and provincial areas, 81 teachers and 1,994 students,
including 4 other advanced schools in the metropolis. It is worth noting
that the implicit significance of the establishment of the Department of
Education lies not in the scope of its responsibilities but in the fact
that education in Thailand was on its way to being a planned enterprise,
more systematic than ever before, and that education also had its own
spokesman to speak for its worthy cause.
The Emergence of the Ministry of Education
The Department of Education became a full-fledged
Ministry of Education on April 1,
1892, as a result of King Rama V's
experimental measures in
administrative and political
reform with a view to establishing
13 ministries.
By virtue of the 1892
Declaration, the control of private
schools, in their rudimentary form,
was introduced. A development
in this respect reflected that the
private sector had come in to share
the educational responsibilities
with the Government.
Queen Sribajarindra had the Saowabha School for girls
established in 1897. From the beginning of the twentieth century
onwards, women's educational development in Thailand went from
strength to strength.
In 1901, the first government school for girls, the
Bamrung Wijasatri, was set up in Bangkok.
In 1913, the first women
teacher training school was set up
at the Benchama Rajalai School for
girls.
In 1898, the first
Education Plan was
launched. It was divided into 2 parts :
the first concerned with education
in the Bangkok area while the second
with education in the provinces. The most significant feature of this
Education Plan was that the educational organization had covered
all levels namely ; pre-primary, primary, secondary and technical
education up to higher education.
The 1902 the National System of Education in Siam
retained all the education levels of the 1898 Plan and reshaped
them into 2 categories;namely, general education and professional
or technical education. Another feature of this plan was that
a variety of age limits for admission was imposed to motivate
graduation within a scheduled duration.
In 1913, the School of Arts and Crafts (Poh Chang)
was set up in Bangkok.
In 1916, higher education emerged in Thailand as
Chulalongkorn University was founded
with 4 faculties : Medicine, Law
and Political Science, Engineering,
and Literature and Science.
In 1921, the Compulsory
Primary Education Act was proclaimed.
The Year 1932 heralded
a period of historical change in
Thailand as a constitutional monarchy
system replaced the traditional system
of absolute monarchy. The first
National Education Scheme was
thus devised whereby individual
educational ability regardless of sex, social background or physical
conditions would be formally recognized.
In 1960, compulsory education was extended to 7 years.
In addition, special provisions were,
for the first time, made for disabled
children, who were originally exempted
from compulsory education, so that they
might be given some form of basic
education, regardless of their
handicaps.
In 1977, Thailand's
educational system was changed from
a 4-3-3-2 structure to a 6-3-3 system
wherein six years of compulsory primary
education is followed by three years of
lower secondary school and by another
three years of upper secondary schooling,
which is still in use nowadays.
From the year 1977 right through to the present day, it can
accurately be said that all of the efforts made by the Ministry of Education
have been geared towards one direction, which is to provide educational
services as a means for a better quality of life and society.
Copyright & copy; 1998 MOENet Thailand Service
Program by
Educational Management Information System Centre (EMISC)
Tel. 281-9809, 628-5643, 628-5644 Fax. 282-9241
website@emisc.moe.go.th
