The Origins of Chinese Language Education in Thailand and Educational Policies Prior to the Enactment of the Private Schools Act

Abstract

The purposes of this article were to: 1) study and analyze the history of Chinese language education and education policy in Thailand before the promulgation of the first Private School Act in B.E. 2461, 2) collect the knowledge of Chinese language education in Thailand in the past where the management of Chinese language education in Thailand has been directly influenced by the China education model. In contrast, the current Chinese education model is teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Before Thai government promulgated the first Private School Act in B.E. 2461, Chinese language education organized in Chinese schools, which managed and administered among the Chinese and independent of government control. This article conducted a documentary research on the primary documents, which were the government official letter from the national archives, the royal gazette, and the secondary documents including books, academic articles, and related research papers, to obtain information and knowledge to answer the objectives of the article. This article divided topics of the study into 4 categories. They were: 1) The beginning and dynamics of Chinese language education in Thailand before B.E. 2461, 2) Sources of the establishment of Chinese school before B.E. 2461, 3) The pattern of Chinese education in Thailand in the past, and 4) The introduction of state policies to control education before B.E. 2461.