NATIONAL SCOUT DAY IN THAILAND

July 1 is National Scout Day (วันคล้ายวันสถาปนาคณะลูกเสื) commemorating the founding of Thai Scouting by King Rama VI on this day in 1911.  Thailand was only the third country in the world to take up Scouting and remains the only nation to have ever had it's program directly founded by a monarch.  The king established the Wild Tiger Corps for adults and created a junior branch which continues today as the Scouts. King Rama VI is thus fondly remembered as the "Father of Thai Scouting."

The Thai Scouting program (which includes Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Girl Guides) is also probably one of the largest national programs as it's mandatory for every student in school to enroll.  In our school, Mondays (for lower Primary) and Wednesdays (for P. 4 through M. 1) are the weekly Scout days when the students wear their uniforms to school and participate in activities during the final periods of the day.  I'm the leader (along with one other teacher) of the P. 1 through P. 3 Scout Patrols in English and I enjoy it very much, having been in the U.S. Boy Scouts when I was much younger (I now regret not having kept my uniform when I moved out of my parents' home).

Most schools in Thailand stage parades and other activities to mark National Scout Day.  Since this year it fell on a Sunday, a brief ceremony was included in our school's regular morning assembly honoring the memory of King Rama VI.  The P. 4 through M. 1 Scouts, along with the school band, were to hold a more extravagent commemoration today.  I wasn't able to attend but I watched them drilling and rehearsing while at the school yesterday for my extra lesson.