Buddhist School: An Effort to Revive Religious Influence on Thailand's Education

Abstract

The Thai government and Buddhist scholars are trying to bring back the influence of Buddhism in educational system as a whole. The idea stemmed from a suggestion of late King Bhumibol (Rama IX), who advised leading educators to integrate local wisdom and Buddhism to enhance Thai educational quality. This paper analyzes a follow-on to the King’s recommendation, in which the Ministry of Education and a leading Buddhist school, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, have commenced a prominent project called “Buddhist School” which aims to bring back a religious influence within school compounds. The project was designed to encourage teachers, students, and school administrators to remind themselves of Thai education’s original roots, which always involved Buddhism beginning about 700 years ago, instead of valuing the nowadays-overwhelming materialistic world. The project is far from being successful, as it lacks funding from the government, but it is becoming more popular among school teachers in all corners of the country.