Literature and culture

MON TEXT BOOK COMMITTEE MEETS

(MUL: Bangkok, September 30, 2003)

Mon Text Book Committee met today at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok for reviewing proposed papers of publishing text books in Thai Mon communities.

New school policy developments in Thailand have allowed about thirty percent of class time to be spent on the teaching of ethnic languages in schools where ethnic people reside. This policy will provide many students with the opportunity to learn their language and increase the odds of survival for Mon language.

Academics and some Thai-Mon leaders developed the textbooks derived from old and culturally rich Mon storybooks and hundreds of palm-leave scriptures found at monasteries in Thailand.

According to a committee member, Mon language textbooks will be divided in four levels from Grade 1 to 12 in schools that provide basic education to the Mon children in central Thailand. Students will learn level one from Primer 1 to 3, level two from Primer 4 to 6 for Primary School, level three from Middle 1 to 3 and level four from Middle 4 to 6 for secondary School.

The primary students can learn about Mon traditional games, common words, history, folk stories, legends, Mon traditions and cultures while high school students will learn more on philosophy and the way of thinking.

Most of the Thai Mon people lives in central Thailand Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Lopburi and Samutsarkhorn. Many thousands of Mon migrated to Thailand over 240 years ago after the Burmese king annexed the Hongsawatoi Mon kingdom in 1757.