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 :-
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.
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. 
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