1. 1
EDUCATION FOR COEXISTENCE:
A CASE STUDY OF A CHIANG MAI PUBLIC SCHOOL FOR MINORITIES
by Norimi Kurimura, Center for the Study of International Cooperation in Education,
Hiroshima University
Corresponding author: Norimi Kurimura
Center for the Study of International Cooperation in Education
Hiroshima University
1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8529, Japan
Tel.: +81-(0)82-424-6247
E-mail: norimiku@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Disclosure statement: This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion
of Science under a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant Base B.
Word count: 6006

2. 2
ABSTRACT: Coexistence has always been a key societal issue. Since migration is one
route to self-actualization, nations that successfully direct hope keep attracting people
and consequently become multicultural. However, diversity can also create conflict.
Thus, governments in these nations emphasise peace through education. Through a case
study of a Thai minority school, this study explores education’s potential to promote
coexistence.
Keywords: Education for coexistence, minorities, citizenship

3. 3
INTRODUCTION
In this era of globalisation, individuals are likely to encounter a number of people
from different backgrounds in daily life. Emigration from some countries is common,
and certain countries offer attractive labour markets for capable people. This has led to
increasing numbers not just of legal immigrants, but also of illegal immigrants, working
overseas. Sometimes, the resultant cultural diversity becomes a source of conflict in an
immigrant-receiving country. However, such conflict more often reflects missteps in
national policies and other factors, such as economic depression, rather than human
flaws.
This movement of people implies the coexistence of various cultures within a
single country. However, there is often an uneven balance of power in societies. For
some people, coexisting with a minority remains a challenge. The general concept of
coexisting is that people can live together without ostracizing minorities. This is the first
step towards achieving safety for one’s self and one’s offspring in this global era.
The social contract necessary for coexistence entails recognition that differences
exist, but that some values (rules) are held in common. This idea relates to the origin of
nations: members are equally protected by rules as long as they respect the social
contract. Even so, other factors can make coexistence difficult. For example, some

4. 4
people will be too inflexible to accept any environmental changes associated with the
entry of newcomers. However, the history of human migration reveals that no nation is
truly homogenous. It is only a matter of immigration timing: who comes before others.
In addition, while some people may be afraid to lose their ‘comfortable’ routine,
humans are naturally curious in seeking new knowledge and experiences, and hope to
improve their lives in general. This innate curiosity can be termed self-development, in
which education plays an important role. It is through education that individuals are
transformed into citizens by imbibing shared rules, knowledge, culture, values and the
history of the society in which they live.
This paper presents a case study of a public school located in Chiang Mai,
Thailand as an example of education that promotes coexistence. The results of a
questionnaire survey conducted will reveal to the international community one path for
establishing a coexisting society. Before analysing the data, it is helpful to understand
the background context of Thailand from several aspects. In this paper, Thai history
relating to foreigners, minorities and citizenship education are analysed to assess
Thailand’s characteristics of uniqueness and flexibility.
2. BACKGROUND CONTEXT of THAILAND

5. 5
Thailand is a multicultural nation and a historical site of Buddhism. Although this
kingdom has experienced economic semi-colonization by western powers, it has never
actually been colonized. This historical factor has not only contributed to the particular
mentality of Thai people, but also to the security. By contrast, many other countries in
Southeast Asia are yet to recover completely from the damage inflicted by colonialism
(Kamihigashi, 1982).1
Since the vast majority of Thailand’s population is Buddhist,
widely regarded as being characteristically harmonious and friendly, the country might
be regarded by some to be free from religious and ethnic conflicts. This chapter
explores this perception through its focus on how foreigners have been accepted within
Thai society and the existence of minorities in some parts of Thailand, and the
educational characteristics.
Cultural Diversity in Thailand’s History
Thousands of years ago, the multicultural kingdom of Thailand originated as a
crossroads from where various ethnic tribes came and went2
. The first notable fact is the
creation of a multicultural environment by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).3
According
to Kakizaki (2007), the numbers of foreigners in Thailand increased after the 1890s4

6. 6
from both the West—England, Germany, Scandinavian countries and other
countries—and from the East—China, Japan, Arabia, Persia, India and Pakistan.5
Some
of these expatriates were specialists and were hired as governmental employees to
facilitate Thailand’s modernisation process. For instance, there were British employees
in the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Agriculture, Italians in the Imperial
Household Department, and Danes in the Senior Service and police department and
Germans in the post and railway departments. As of 1906, more than 247 foreigners
were employed by the Thai government.6
The Ministry of Finance, for example,
implemented projects such as centralizing the budgeting process, and for years avoided
floating loans on the European money market7
following the advice of British officers.
Rama V was not in fact the first king to enlist foreign specialists within the
kingdom’s political structure. During an earlier period of Thai history, foreigners were
offered several important positions by Rama IV.8
A Thai social studies textbook for
upper secondary school students describes the various cultural and ethnic backgrounds
of the country’s inhabitants prior to 1857.9
Foreigners’ residences were segregated by
nationality and each community had its own local representative who pledged
allegiance to the Thai king. Moreover, those who performed a meritorious deed were
conferred with some status or title such as that of a public consultant or a honourable

7. 7
name. Thai kings controlled foreigners by manipulating the power balance among them.
They also pursued a cultural assimilation policy, encouraging foreigners to marry Thai
citizens.
Some Thai kings actively hired capable people regardless of their nationality. In
other words, acceptance of non-Thai citizens was based on their utility for the kingdom.
Minorities
A total of 75 per cent of Thai citizens are ethnically Thai, and 95.6 per cent of
citizens are Buddhist.10
Thus, the Thai character, language and law strongly reflect
Buddhist values.11
While this reality has created the image of ‘the Buddhist Thai’, there
are also minorities with different religious beliefs—Muslim, Christian and others— as
well as cultural backgrounds and languages.
Muslims are the largest minority in Thailand, composing 4.6 per cent12
of the
total Thai population. They are the majority inhabitants in Patani, Yala, Narathiwat and
Satun in southern Thailand since three-quarters of the Muslim population resides in
those four prefectures.13
Unlike Thai-speaking Muslims in Northern Thailand and in
Satun, Muslims living in the southernmost prefectures of Patani, Yala and Naratiwa

8. 8
routinely speak Patani-Malay, a dialect of Malay, and identify themselves as
Malay-Muslims. Indeed, their culture is historically aligned to Malay culture and their
places of residence are located near the border with Malaysia. Some speakers of
Patani-Malay are both Thai and Malay nationals, many of whom go to Malaysia to
study and work. Thus, they are physiologically and culturally remote from Thai
Buddhists.
As a result, approximately three million Muslims do not understand Thai, even
though Thai is the official language of the land of their nationality. This is because their
daily spoken language is a dialect of Malay, and because they have historically resisted
being controlled by Thai authorities.14
The Thai language is a symbol of nationalism
and is promoted by the Thai government for whom the exemplary Thai is Buddhist.
The central government’s lack of understanding of Muslim values and its
nationalist policy have led to protests enacted through murders, arson and bombings in
southern Muslim prefectures. Casualties in these areas exceeded 3500 people between
January 2004 and June 2009.15
These protest crimes can be attributed to a dilemma
among Muslims that relates to the fact that the Thai government has not respected their
history and identity, seeking to integrate them instead with Buddhist Thais.16
The Karen, a hill tribe, is the largest ethnic minority group in northern Thailand.17

9. 9
They mostly live in small villages at elevations ranging from 600 m to over 1000 m
above sea level.18
Other hill tribes that share some cultural traits with the Karen live in
more than 3000 villages located in the upper valleys and on the slopes of the remote
mountains of northern Thailand.19
Karen people speak Karen, using Burmese letters
and Romaji for writing.20
According to Anderson, the following characteristics are
evident among the Karen: (1) they are traditionally animists; (2) they settle in small
villages (about 25 houses per village) near sources of water; (3) they are widely
dispersed, so it is difficult to ascertain their total number; and 4) they own and use
elephants for farming, which is their main source of livelihood.21
According to an FAO report,22
hill tribes are the most disadvantaged groups in
Thailand. They face serious poverty as a result of an unorganized infrastructure, limited
access to national services, and their unique cultural and linguistic identities. The report
pointed out that these conditions were hindrances in developing a national Thai identity
among hill tribes. Moreover, the legal status of hill tribes within Thailand fluctuates
between ‘naturalized’, ‘alien’ and ‘illegal’.23
Recently, however, the living conditions
of hill tribes have shown a gradual improvement. The wider Thai population now has
more exposure to these minorities and a chance to learn about them because some
members of hill tribes move to cities to conduct business.24
Moreover, the government

10. 10
has opened public schools for these minorities, so that more members of hill tribes have
recently begun to speak Thai.
Citizenship Education
The book ‘Comparative study on citizenship education in Japan and Thailand’ by
Hirata (2007) provides a detailed analysis of Thai education from the perspective of
citizenship education. One of its authors, Suzuki, has analysed the government’s efforts
to cultivate citizenship among the Thai people. He contends that the principle behind
primary education curriculum development in Thailand is to develop capacities, through
training, to survive this global era. 25
According to Suzuki’s argument, the
characteristics of the government’s thrust on Thai citizenship education are to avoid
harmful influences brought in by globalisation, such as extreme materialism and the
culture of consumption. The method for achieving this goal is to promote people’s
satisfaction with what they have, while focusing on early education and its
incorporation of information technology.
A common characteristic of schools in Thailand, as revealed by their curricula and
methods of instruction, is a foundation in religious doctrine. Specific characteristics

11. 11
evident in individual schools are respect for a democratic regime and an emphasis on
solving urgent problems such as drug addiction and HIV/AIDS;26
what was observed
by researchers was the value each school accorded to citizenship education, as reflected
in its subjects from the universal to the personal level.
Another useful insight in the book emerges from its comparative analysis of the results
of an opinion poll about citizenship among Japanese and Thai students. Notably, Thai
students saw and heard more about ‘social justice and fairness’ than their Japanese
counterparts.27
Like Japanese students, Thai students also had many opportunities to
learn about concrete and practical issues such as relationships of interdependence,
continuous development and coexistence that can counter the negative impacts of
globalisation.28
By examining the opinion poll, researchers found that 95 per cent of
Thai students expressed pride in their Thai nationality compared with a little over 50%
of Japanese students who answered questions relating to their morals and pride in their
nationality.29
Thus, the figure for Thai students was almost double that of Japanese
students.
3. CASE STUDY
The National Education Act B.E. 2542 declares that the aim of education is ‘full

12. 12
development of the Thai people in all aspects: physical and mental health; intellect;
knowledge; morality; integrity; and desirable way of life so as to be able to live in
harmony with other people.’30
Section 10 of Chapter 2 of the Act clearly mentions that
education is equally open for all individuals in Thailand.31
The education system follows a pattern of 6-3-3 years for primary education,
lower secondary education and upper secondary education, respectively. Thai children
start their primary education from the age of seven years with the first six years of their
education being mandatory and free. 32
According to statistics provided on the
UNESCO website, in 2010, 38.1 per cent of Thai citizens over the age of 25 had
attained an education certificate of not less than lower secondary education. 33
Disregarding this fact, the adult literacy rate for those above 15 years of age was 93.5
per cent in 2005.34
The UNESCO statistics further show that the percentage of female
pupils enrolled in lower secondary education was 49 per cent in 2012.35
Since the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai contains the largest number of hill
tribes, this research was conducted in one of the city’s public schools. Its purpose was
not to demonstrate a perfect model of coexistence within the school system. Rather, it
was to gain an understanding of coexistence as an educational issue from an actual case
study.

13. 13
The research targeted children enrolled in lower secondary education. This was
because it was a part of an international comparative research project focusing on
practical school improvement at the lower secondary education level in developing
countries.
Basic Background on the Target School36
The school targeted in the questionnaire survey about education for coexistence
was Suksasongkor Chiang Mai School, which was established in 1976 as a public
boarding school providing the full education spectrum from grades 1 (primary) to 12
(upper secondary). The school was established for children from minority groups, hill
tribes and immigrants, as well as Thai children whose living conditions were
complicated, such as those who were victims of sexual abuse, domestic violence and
drug addiction or were sex slaves, street children, children of single parents and orphans.
The school is popular because it is completely free to attend and is located in a city. Its
main financial source is the government budget,37
supplemented by donations from
companies and citizens. Therefore, the school is able to cover tuition fees and dormitory
fees, including the provision of three meals per day, two uniforms, other basic

14. 14
necessities and the students’ activities fees.
As of 2013, students at this school represented 11 different backgrounds: hill
tribes, immigrants and locals (see Figure 1). The total number of students in the school
was 882: 177 at the primary education level, 455 at the lower secondary education level
and 250 at the upper secondary education level.38
The parents of the pupils were, on
average, primary education certificate holders, and many were either farmers or
employed as transient workers. The average family structure consisted of a father,
mother and three children.
A total of 13 school dormitories were available only for children from hill tribes.

15. 15
Members of each dormitory were culturally mixed, and dormitories for boys and girls
were separate. In each of the girls’ dormitories, one leader was selected to look after
younger children. Through opportunities to cooperate with other children from different
backgrounds, children started seeing their dormitory mates not as aliens, who essentially
differed from themselves, but as individuals whose differences were personality based.
This was reflected in the school’s core educational concept. As Mrs. Senton Hatilakoo,
vice principal at the school, explained: ‘Once children become members of this school,
they are treated as equals. They must feel like starting a new life here’.
Friday is an ethnic costume day for students at Suksasongkor Chiang Mai School.
For this event, students, starting from grade 1, had their own ethnic costume. They were
encouraged to make their own costumes, although some bought ready-made costumes.
However, the decision on what to wear was absolutely the children’s choice. Some
students wore costumes belonging to their friends or children from other tribes.
Analysis of Survey Results
The gender composition in terms of the targeted educational period, lower
secondary education, was as follows: 61 boys and 85 girls in grade 7, 56 boys and 101

16. 16
girls in grade 8, and 51 boys and 101 girls in grade 9. Religious diversity was as
follows: 98 Buddhists and 48 Christians in grade 7, 109 Buddhists and 48 Christians in
grade 8, and 106 Buddhists and 46 Christians in grade 9.
A total of 60 children were asked to fill out a 22-item questionnaire and responses
were obtained from 17 grade 7 students (8 boys and 9 girls); 20 grade 8 students (12
boys and 8 girls); and 19 grade 9 students (4 boys and 15 girls). The age ranges of
children were 12 to 16 years old in grade 7 (the majority were 13 years old), 12 to 18
years old in grade 8 (the majority were 14 years old) and 14 to 15 years old in grade 9
(the majority were 15 years old).
General Impressions of School Education
The questionnaire included a question on how much the student liked school. The
majority in each grade responded with ‘really like’ or ‘like’ (see Figure 2). Evidently,
this school’s unique environment did not have a negative impact on the children.

17. 17
For the next question, children provided the reasons for their response about how
much they liked school. In general, children enjoyed studying and communicating with
friends. Notably, almost three times the number of children in grade 9 enjoyed
communicating with people outside of their communities compared with children in
other grades (see Figure 3).

18. 18
Multicultural Experience
The following questions aimed to assess how children perceived the multicultural
environment of their school.
Except for two pupils in grade 7, children answered affirmatively to the question
on whether they had a friend from a different background. There were also children who
associated with friends from the same cultural background. The fact of belonging to the
same tribe gives children (and adults as well) a convenient reason to be together as they
speak the same language and share the same culture (habits). Children from major tribes,
notably, Mon and Karen, have no difficulty finding friends from the same background.
Nevertheless, several groups were also composed of children from various cultural

19. 19
backgrounds. They mostly communicated in Thai, but sometimes also in their friends’
languages.
For these children who had at least one friend from a different ethnic group,
ethnic differences were not an important issue in choosing a friend. They made friends
because they liked the friends’ personalities (see Figure 4). This is the simplest and most
basic reason for being friends. It is because ethnic diversity is a part of their daily lives
that they can overcome differences and understand others through communication and
cooperation.
When children were asked whether they talked with their friends about each
other’s cultural backgrounds, on average, 80 per cent of children in these three grades
responded that they talked about their backgrounds with their friends in the process of
understanding their friends as well as being understood by their friends. This may be

20. 20
evidence that children in the age group of 12 to 18 years understand the value of
respecting others’ roots. Also, this school is a place that promotes learning about others’
cultures. A total of 13 children in grade 7, 19 in grade 8 and 17 in grade 9 responded
that they learned about minority groups and immigrants in school.
The reason for the children’s positive attitude towards others’ differences could be
based on pride in their own identities. Almost all children responded that they
appreciate their own cultural backgrounds. 39
Positive perceptions about cultural
backgrounds among children, mostly belonging to hill tribes, may be attributed to being
able to talk openly about their backgrounds in school.40
Responding to another question
in the survey, children also stated that they had opportunities to learn about minority
groups in school. They learned about other cultures in their daily lives more than from
lessons and teachers.
Motivation for Education
Murata conducted an educational survey in four agricultural prefectures in 1976.41
Almost all of the villagers who took part in the survey responded affirmatively to a
question on whether education was valuable. In providing reasons for this response,
70.6% of the villagers said that it was useful for their children to get a good job in the

21. 21
future.
According to Murata, hill tribes in Thailand have had the opportunity to obtain an
education since the mid-1950s.42
At that time, the Chinese Communist Party was
ascending in power, and the security of the border with China became an urgent issue.
Through an educational scheme, the Thai government laboured to spread literacy in the
Thai language.
Returning to Suksasongkor Chiang Mai School in 2013, the motivation of
students to go onto higher education has not dropped since 1976. In response to a
question regarding the possibility of continuing studies after grade 9, 11 students in
grade 7, 19 in grade 8 and 18 in grade 9 expressed their desire for higher education. The
main reasons provided for a negative perception about continuing studies were either
that the students would have to return to their homes to help their families or that they
did not like to study. Responding to the question of whether the children thought that
their education would provide them with a good future, all valid responses were positive
with one exception: one child who wished to continue her studies after grade 9
responded negatively because the future, she said, was unknown to her.
Those children who expected to get a good job after completing their education
did not dream about city life. Instead, many of them wished to return to their

22. 22
communities sooner or later. Some children felt the need to support their families in
their work and would, therefore, return to their parents immediately after completing
their education. Thus, lower secondary education was the goal for some children and
higher secondary education for others. However, some children planned to return to
their homes after acquiring some skills to develop their communities, while others
planned to first get a good job and then return to their families with some savings.
Questionnaires were simultaneously distributed to 10 faculty (out of 76) and to
the 2 student teachers from Chiang Mai University.
All 10 faculty selected positive responses for questions on whether Suksasongkor
Chiang Mai School was unique and whether students were encouraged to respect and
preserve their own cultures. Two faculty pointed to the school’s multicultural
environment and its activities aimed at promoting learning among students about each

23. 23
other’s traditions as the reasons for their positive perceptions. In this school, children
wore traditional costumes once a week and enjoyed each other’s performances.
The student teachers chose to do their training in Suksasongkor Chiang Mai
School. What is remarkable is that their experience there changed their impression of
hill tribes in a positive manner. Through their face-to-face communication with children
from hill tribes, these young student teachers started learning about minorities in
Thailand and came to the conclusion that the environment provided by this school could
improve society
4. EDUCATION FOR COEXISTENCE
Educational Improvement in the Present Situation
Treating everybody equally and educating all inhabitants to be citizens are two
effective ways of promoting coexistence between people from various backgrounds
within a society. Education for citizenship could be perceived as promoting integration
in a negative sense, because this kind of education may be viewed as manipulating
people’s personalities to make them easier to handle by authorities. However, if

24. 24
education leaves some space for people to preserve their indigenous identities, while
sharing general values such as national rules, it becomes a solution that provides hope
for all.
Thailand has experienced riots in response to its integration (nationalism) policy.
Learning from past experience, the Thai government has shifted to a policy of
appeasement so that Muslims and hill tribes can learn about their cultural backgrounds
in school while receiving a thorough education in the Thai language. By speaking the
same language, minorities as well as the Thai majority can begin to communicate, and
this can become a starting point for both sides to begin to understand each other. This,
surely, is one way of reducing friction in Thailand.
On the other hand, it is essential to ensure that no particular culture and religion is
dominant in a society. It is common sense that nations must have flexibility to accept
differences brought in by newcomers. As Kant (1795) stated, no place on earth has had
a legal owner from the beginning of history, so what humans have is only an order: who
came first and who came next.
The United States, a nation of immigrants, provides an apt example of education
for citizenship by effectively using the ‘American Dream’ as an ideology of democracy
to create the country’s positive image. Because the dream conveyed the possibility of

25. 25
hope for everyone, this image has continued to inspire citizens as well as attract people
from outside the country. The whole world once dreamed about the United States. Upon
arriving there, people tried hard to be American to grasp the dream and make it their
reality. Not only in school, but in their daily lives, they learned how to assert their rights
as well as their patriotism to this country of freedom.
Naturally such a fantasy cannot endure forever. Ethnic conflict in school is an
urgent issue, especially in public schools in the United States. As of 2004, 40 per cent of
students in the nation’s schools were non-white.43
Some of those schools experience
ethnic conflict based on racial prejudice such as exclusion of minority students from
certain school activities or violence against Americans of European descent. However,
there are examples of people who have become disgusted by this negative chain and
have contested it. Banfield provides several cases of schools that have challenged the
negative chain by creating opportunities to think about ways of resolving ethnic
tensions through cooperation.44
The United States has adopted a programme of multicultural education as a means
of realizing equal education for all, encompassing the diversity of its racial and ethnic
groups and social classes. This educational programme envisages a reduction of
prejudice, but also promotes a pedagogy of equity as well as an empowering school

26. 26
culture and social structure.45
Its goal is to help people to perceive the value of other
cultures so that they can be freed of negative emotions like racial prejudice and
cooperate with each other for in a future of coexistence.
At the wider level of a structure of multiple nations, the European Union is rising
to the challenge of promoting coexistence through education. The European Union aims
to achieve co-prosperity of member nations which, therefore, need to understand each
other’s values to cooperate effectively. Each member nation has its own culture,
language, and values. Thus, an education programme is essential for each nation to
understand and appreciate the uniqueness of others. Citizenship education in Europe is
aimed at promoting understanding of the aims and values of the European Union which
recognises the significant challenge of achieving coexistence and co-prosperity within
member states and actively involves them in discussions about the future.46
5. CONCLUSIONS
This paper has examined education for coexistence through a case study of a
public school in Thailand. Thailand has historically used the power of foreigners for its
development (modernization) process. As a result, the Thai people have had the
experience of adapting to new (different) external values. However, in addition to

27. 27
foreigners, there are also minority groups, for example, Muslims and hill tribes, living
within the kingdom who have not always been guaranteed their human rights in
Thailand, since their cultures, languages and religions differ from those of the Thai
majority.
However some improvements have occurred, especially within the education
system that tries to make Thailand a comfortable place for these minorities as well.
Suksasongkor Chiang Mai School, a boarding school for minorities, is an example of a
school that has achieved this educational goal. A questionnaire survey distributed to
children within lower secondary education grades was carried out at this school. The
results indicated the importance of this educational experience of putting people in a
multicultural environment where they need to communicate and cooperate with others
from different backgrounds. This experience enables them to understand the unique
qualities and personalities of their peers as strengths. These children can receive an
education without being compelled to become ‘standard’ Thai citizens. Moreover, the
study revealed that education was everyone’s hope for a better future, including
minorities, some of whom live below the national standard.
There are many challenges to actualizing coexistence within education.
Throughout their history, human beings have been migrating to achieve a better life.

28. 28
Especially in the global era, advanced technology makes migration easier than ever. As
a result, each nation has to take steps to engage with cultural diversity within its territory.
Education is a fundamental and effective way to improve society. The United States is
known to be a multicultural nation where (multicultural) education has been provided
equally to racially, ethnically, socially and economically diverse people. The European
Union has also promoted citizenship education to address the challenge of cultural
diversity. Although the European Union is a group of states rather than a single state, a
programme to educate its member states’ citizens aimed at advancing sustainable
prosperity is perceived as being a priority.
Coexistence has always been a critical issue, and education has been the means to
achieve this goal. Therefore, developing effective curricula for enhancing the quality of
education is a universal need. Computer literacy is evidently a significant issue for
national development. However, sustainable peace is not possible without lessons that
provide children with opportunities to learn about the meaning of cooperation, the value
of communication and the indispensability of respect.
No one has the ‘correct’ answer for developing education for coexistence. Thus,
the Thai case presented in this study cannot be more than an example that provides us
with insights on how to improve what we have now. Learning from the experiences of

29. 29
others is as effective as direct experience, and good examples are not always found in
developing countries.
6. NOTES
1
Thailand has had less internal affairs issues, such as tensions over national borders, races,
languages and religions than other regions in Southeast Asia. Kamihigashi (1982), p. 2–6.
2
Ibid, p. 11.
3
The reign of Chulalongkorn, a Bangkok king (Chakri dynasty) was from 1 October 1868 to
October 23 1910. Wyatt (1984), p. 313.
4
Kakizaki (2007).
5
Kakizaki (2002). p. 28.
6
This number included: 126 British nationals, 39 Nordic nationals, 36 Germans and 4 Japanese.
Kakizaki (2007), pp. 128–129.
7
The new Ministry of Justice also initiated some modernization efforts with French and Belgian
jurists. Wyatt (1984), p. 210.
8
Nagamasa Yamada is an example of a foreigner who was recruited by King Song Tham as head of
the Royal Imperial Guard during the early seventeenth century. This king reigned from 1610 to 13
December 1628. Kamihigashi (1982), p. 313.
9
Kakizaki (2002), pp. 28–29.
10
CIA The World Factbook: Thailand.
11
Kiro et al. (2012), p. 157.
12
CIA The World Factbook: Thailand (Religions)
13
Kiro. et al. (2012), pp. 124, 146.
14
Ibid, p. 148.
15
Ibid, p. 128
16
Ibid, p. 166.
17
An aid organization for hill tribes, the Sakura Project in Thailand reports that there are 87,793
households in 1,925 villages. This is almost 50 per cent of the total population of hill tribes in
Thailand. Their places of residence are widely spread out over 15 prefectures in northern and central
Thailand. Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Tak and Kanchanauri, are located on the Thailand and
Myanmar border.
18
Delang (2003), p. x.
19
Anderson (1993), p. 19.
20
Murata (2007), p. 74.
21
Ibid, pp. 22 – 23.
22
FAO (2002), p. 3.
23
Ibid, p. 3.
24
The tailored products of hill tribes are often colourful and well-decorated, and are popular among
tourists and locals. The costumes of hill tribes have become fashionable for some Thai people. In the
current reverse situation, members of hill tribes dress like Thais and Thais dress like members of hill
tribe. Thus backgrounds of people are hardly recognizable at first glance.
25
Hirata (2007), p 142.
26
Ibid, pp. 166–171.
27
Ibid, 205. A total of 8.8 % of Japanese students and 8.1% of Thai students responded that they
regularly see and hear the words ‘social justice’ and ‘fairness’. Further, 31.4% of Japanese students

30. 30
and 55.3% of Thai students responded that they had heard of these words.
28
Ibid, p. 206.
29
Ibid, p. 224.
30
Office of the National Education Commission, National Education Act B.E. 2542 (1999) and
Amendments (Second National Education Act B.E. 2545 (2002)), p. 4.
31
UNICEF Thailand. Education: Overview. The right to quality education is guaranteed for all
children without any exceptions.
32
UN (2002).
33
UNESCO (1997), p. 19.
34
UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
35
Ibid.
36
This information was provided by Associate Professor Phetcharee Rupavijetra at the Faculty of
Education, Chiang Mai University in Thailand.
37
UN (2002), p. 55. The Thai Government provides routine funding for a comprehensive
educational program at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.
38
Details of numbers of students enrolled in lower secondary education are: 146 students in grade
7 (85 girls); 157 students in grade 8 (101 girls); and 152 students in grade 9 (101 girls). The number
of students, especially males, has decreased at the level of high school education as follows: 17 male
students in grade 10 (62 female students), 21 males in grade 11 (65 females) and 23 males in grade
12 (62 females). Compared with the number of students enrolled in lower secondary education, there
are fewer children in upper secondary education at this school.
39
One child each in grades 7 and 9 did not respond to the question and one child in grade 7
responded negatively to this question.
40
2 Thai and 15 hill tribe students in grade 7; 1 Thai and 19 hill tribe students in grade 8; and 3 Thai
and 16 hill tribe students in grade 9. Affirmative responses regarding the question of whether
students appreciated their cultural backgrounds were obtained from: 14 students in grade 7, 20
students in grade 8 and 18 students in grade 9. Valid responses were all affirmative.
41
Murata (2007), p. 63–67.
42
Ibid, pp. 199–214.
43
Banks (2006), p. 22.
44
Banfield (1995).
45
Banks (2006), pp. 4–5.
46
Eurydice. (2012), p. 8.
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34. 34
FIGURE CAPTIONS
Figure 1. Student Diversity (gross) as of June 2013
Figure 2. How much do you like school?
Figure 3. Why do you like school?
Figure 4. Why are you friends with him/her?
Figure 5. Do you want to return to your home community after finishing your s
tudies?