ABSTRACT
The history of modern female education in Thailand begins its gradual development from the reign of King Mongkut (1851–68) with the employment of an English governess in the inner court, as described in Anna Leonowens’ memoirs (Leonowens, 1870). Nevertheless, due to the lack of available literature, which mostly focuses on male education, the study of the history of female education in Siam is rather limited. Only in the immediate pre-revolution years from 1925 to 1932 did female voices begin to be heard in the public sphere through the growth of women’s print media. Previous studies have failed to elaborate on the education for girls that existed in Siam before the era of intensive modernisation from the second decade of the twentieth century. Wyatt (1969) did mention in his work Sunanthalai Girl’s School, first founded in 1892 and one of the earliest female schools in Siam (Wyatt, 1969, p. 166). Unfortunately, the author presented no further discussion about this school. Instead, he focused on Suan Anan and Suan Kulap schools, which were the first boys’ schools in Siam (Wyatt, 1969, p. 166). Even though statistics exist and testify to a remarkable and unprecedented growth in the number of female students attending primary and secondary schools and higher education institutions in the early twentieth century, no further analysis of female education’s origins or impact was made.
