ThailandÆs educational history can be said to have begun in the middle of the Sukhothai period (13th Century) when King Ramkhamhaeng invented the Thai alphabet. Stone inscriptions of that period tell of moral, intellectual and cultural education. Early education was, however, limited to mainly the aristocracy and the Buddhist clergy (Sudaprasert, 1973).
The alphabet was created so that the many princes of the land would be literate enough to administer their provinces and communicate with the palace in the capital, while monks had to know how to read the religious texts from which they preached sermons to the peasants. The great bulk of the people was either in service or engaged in farming so they had little need for reading skills, since village lore, history and culture was transmitted orally (Kanoksak, 1984).
Buddhist monasteries were virtually the only source of semi-public education and only a very small portion of the population, mostly male, received any formal education. The reign of King Mongkut (1851-1865), who was immortalized in the Western world as the ôKingö in the ôKing and I,ö is the one man in the country most responsible for the growth of education (Sukhabanij, 1970).
Under Mongkut, ThailandÆs first printing press was set up and the educational curricula of Thai children were restructured to suit the new needs of the nation. The knowledge of English became a necessary tool and an English teacher was hired to teach the royal children. The King himself had mastered English and Latin.
MongkutÆs son, King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910) continued in Mongkut's steps, and realizing the need for better trained personnel for royal and government services, opened a school in the Palace. An English School was established in the Palace to prepare princes and court children for further studies abroad. Schools were also founded outside the palace for the children of commoners and government textbooks were printe...