Mom Luang Pin MalakulMom luang is a Thai honorific hereditary title denoting a royal bloodline; the subject's personal name was Pin Malakul. (, ; 24 October 1903 – 5 October 1995) was a Thai professor, educator and writer. His contributions to education in Thailand include the establishment of various institutions of higher education, the introduction of fixed class schedules, and the implementation of teacher-training programmes. In his career he served as Director-General of the Department of General Education, later becoming Permanent Secretary, and Minister, of Education. He was also a member of the executive board of UNESCO. His writings earned him the title of National Artist in 1987, and the 100th anniversary of his birth was celebrated by the UNESCO in 2003 as recognition of his contribution to the advancement of education in Thailand and Southeast Asia.
Personal life
Early life and education
Mom Luang Pin Malakul was born on 24 October 1903 to Mom Rajawongse PiaMom rajawongse also denotes a royal bloodline. Pia Malakul was also known by his noble title as Chao Phraya Phrasadet Surentharathibodi. and Thanpuying Sa-ngiam Malakul.Thanpuying is a Thai title equivalent to dame. Sa-ngiam was her given name. He was the sixth of thirteen children (although the fourth, and the only son, to survive past infancy).Watcharaphon 2002, pp. 253–4.Malakul 1989, p. 4. His father, a nobleman and great-grandson of King Phuttha Loetla Naphalai, had served as King Vajiravudh's guardian during the King's overseas studies and held posts including Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Pia's work was instrumental in the establishment of higher education in Thailand (then known as Siam) and he later became the third Minister of Public Instruction under King Vajiravudh.Malakul 1989, pp. 11–13..
Pin recalled in his autobiographyMalakul 1989, pp. 6–7. that although his mother was a kind and loving figure, his father was rather strict and acted more like a teacher than a father, and that he was often fearful of him. A loyal servant of the crown, Pia introduced Pin to King Vajiravudh when he was seven years old. Another often-recounted story from his childhood is that of how, before having learned to count, when his mother asked him to gather half a bunch of betel leaves for her, Pin set down to picking up one leaf with each hand at a time, separating them equally into two piles.Malakul 1989, pp. 4–5.
At the age of four, Pin began receiving preliminary education from teachers who came to teach at the family home on Damrongrak Road, next to Varadis Palace. He enrolled at Suankularb Wittayalai School (then known as Wat Ratchaburana School) shortly before turning seven in 1910, and after half a year his examination results placed him at Mathayom 1 level. In 1914 he was accepted into the Royal Pages School (now Vajiravudh College). Half a year later, King Vajiravudh named him one of eight Royal Page Students () in the king's personal service.. Although he did not attend regular classes at the school afterwards, he passed exams at Mathayom 5 level (grade 11) at the end of the school year.Malakul 1989, pp. 5, 8.
As a Royal Page Student, Pin's duties included various tasks in the royal household as well as accompanying the King in his various activities. The Royal Page Students were involved in plays and sports games held in court and also in activities of the King's scouting-related paramilitary movement, the Wild Tiger Corps.Malakul 1989, pp. 16–9. Pin also became an editor of the Dusit Samit Magazine, part of the King's Dusit Thani miniature city/micronation project.Malakul 1989, pp. 31–2. One memorable task appointed to him by the King was to determine the day of week King Naresuan left Ayutthaya for his famous elephant duel, a problem Pin was unable to solve at the time, but became the inspiration for his later development of the "Everlasting Calendar". He lived in the royal court most of the time and received a salary of twenty to thirty baht.Malakul 1989, pp. 17, 20.
Life in Europe
In 1922, when Pin was eighteen years old, the Ministry of Public Instruction, in accordance with the King's wishes, granted him a government scholarship for a tertiary education in ancient Eastern languages in the United Kingdom. He departed aboard the on 23 January 1922 and arrived in London on 7 March.Malakul 1989, pp. 41, 49–50.
During his first two years, Pin studied Pali and Sanskrit at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies and lived with Mr and Mrs L. J. Marshall of 23, Portland Place, Brighton, from whom he also received additional instruction in mathematics, English, and French.Malakul 1989, pp. 53–4. Such was his talent in mathematics that Mr Marshall, who was head of Mathematics and Surveying at Brighton Technical College, wrote to the Superintendent of Siamese Government Students recommending that Pin major in mathematics instead and saying that his skills would undoubtedly warrant a university scholarship for mathematical studies. This, however, did not suit the requirements of the Ministry of Public Instruction, and so Pin did not continue his mathematics education.Malakul 1989, p. 56.. Nevertheless, his interest in the field did not waver, and he continued to produce works on the subject. Among these are his publication in 1927 in Samaggi Sara, the journal of Samaggi Samagom (the Thai Association in the UK), of a formula which he called the "Everlasting Calendar", upon which he later based the development of a set of slide rules which could be used to calculate the day of week for any given date, and his publication of Miscellaneous Problems, a collection of various mathematical problems he had worked on, later in 1960.Malakul 1989, pp. 70–1..
In England Pin formed close friendships with fellow Thai students Prince Dulbhakara Worawan, Visuddhi Krairiksh, and Phanom Thephasdin, the first of which with whom he had been friends since their time as Royal Page Students. He also developed a taste for opera and classical music, on which he recalled spending quite a disproportionate amount of his scholarship's allowance, eventually building a collection of 317 records.Malakul 1989, pp. 52, 82.
Pin was accepted into Brasenose College of the University of Oxford in 1924, where he studied in the Honour School of Oriental Studies for four years. He graduated with a BA degree on 28 June 1928.Malakul 1989, pp. 56, 58, 64, 70. He then enrolled in a one-year course in education also at Oxford, according to the wishes of the Ministry of Public Instruction. He practice-taught at The Latymer School during the school year, but fell ill during the winter and again near the end of the school year late in the spring of 1929, which adversely affected his studies. He was later awarded the Oxbridge MA degree on 15 October 1931.Malakul 1989, pp. 71–5..
After finishing his studies, Pin accompanied Princess Kalyanga Sombati Kitiyakara on a one-month trip in Europe. Upon return to London, he attended the First World Conference on Adult Education on behalf of Siam, but during the same time his health deteriorated further, and he was diagnosed with tuberculosis.Malakul 1989, pp. 78, 90–3. Accordingly, his return trip to Siam had to be postponed in order for him to recover in Switzerland. There he spent almost two years in Davos and later Klosters, until September 1931 when he attended the League of Nations annual conference before returning to Siam via a Nippon Yusen ship departing from Naples, Italy. He finally arrived in Siam on 23 October 1931, after spending over nine years abroad.Malakul 1989, pp. 105–6, 115, 118.
Marriage
Pin married Miss Dussadeemala Krairiksh,Later known as Thanpuying Dussadee Malakul Na Ayutthaya. daughter of Chao Phraya Mahithon and Thanpuying Klip, on 7 March 1932.Malakul 1989, p. 124. They lived at the Krairiksh family home before building a house on the Damrongrak Road property, and finally settled at Soi Chaiyot on Sukhumvit Road in 1938.Malakul 1989, p. 129. They had no children.
Work
Early years Upon Pin's return from Europe in 1931, Public Instruction Minister Prince Dhani Nivat appointed him as a government official under Krom Vichakan, a department of the ministry. He also served the Prince in a somewhat unofficial capacity, assisting the Prince's work and observing the ministry's various goings-on. Under the Prince's directions, Pin became an instructor in mathematics, Thai, and English at Chulalongkorn University, in addition to the various duties he performed for the ministry.Malakul 1989, pp. 121, 123. In 1934, he became head of the university's teacher-preparation programme and headmaster of the Horwang Secondary School of Chulalongkorn University, which served as the country's first demonstration (teacher training) school. He began developing projects for the school, although few of them were realised at the time. One such project was the creation of the country's first school workshop.Malakul 1989, pp. 127–8.
In 1938, Plaek Pibulsonggram, as President of Chulalongkorn University, assigned Pin the duty of overseeing the establishment of Chulalongkorn's University Preparatory School according to the National Education Plan of BE 2479 (1936 CE). Although given a tight time frame of only three months, the new school was created on the location of Horwang School, and gradually absorbed the older school, the entire staff merging within a few years. Pin became the first director of the school, the country's first coeducational school, now known as Triam Udom Suksa School. It is widely regarded as one of the best schools in the country. During his term as director, which lasted until 1944, he developed and implemented a fixed class schedule system, along with a mechanical timetable used to assign teaching periods, which is still in use today.Janehutthakarnkij et al. 2007, pp. 63–4.
As World War II reached Thailand in December 1941, Japanese troops raided and occupied the school, forcing teachers and students to evacuate and relocate to temporary locations around Bangkok, and later to various other provinces. At one point, Pin disguised himself as a janitor to smuggle important documents and cash out of the school.Malakul 1989, pp. 130–1.
In 1942, not long after the invasion, Prime Minister Pibulsonggram assumed the post of education minister himself, and appointed Pin as Director-General of the Department of General Education. Although resources were limited due to the war, Pin was able to manage the budget and personnel to allow a countrywide 12 baht salary for rural local schoolteachers. During his term, every province was provided with at least one upper-secondary school. He also became involved in frequent school migrations due to both the war and changing policy.Malakul 1989, pp. 131–3.
One issue with which Pin was deeply concerned was that of the country's teacher-training system, an issue he stressed during an audience with King Ananda Mahidol after the war in 1946, and would later address during his term as Permanent Secretary of Education.Malakul 1989, p. 132.
As Permanent Secretary of Education Pin became Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education in 1946. In this capacity, he oversaw the founding in 1949 of the Higher Teacher Training School at Prasanmit, now Srinakharinwirot University, and the drafting of the first national education plan.
Administration-wise, Krom Vichakan (or the Department of Curriculum and Instruction Development) was re-created in 1952 and the Department of Teacher Education was created in 1954, along with the expansion of the Higher Teacher Training School to become the College of Education, of which Pin served as president until 1956. He later oversaw the creation of the college's Prasanmit Primary Demonstration School.Malakul 1989, pp. 137, 163.