Triam Udom Suksa School

History

The founding of Triam Udom Suksa School relates to the revised National Education Plan of BE 2479 (1936 CE), which imposed four and six years of primary and secondary education respectively, with an additional two years of pre-collegiate schooling required for students who were to pursue higher education. This pre-collegiate level was to be initially provided by the students' prospective universities, and accordingly the University Council of Chulalongkorn University authorised the establishment of such a school on 3 January 1938. The founding of the school, which took place over a tight time frame of three months, was overseen by Mom Luang Pin Malakul, then head of the university's teacher-preparation programme, who became the school's first director. The school took over the location of Matthayom Horwang School (of which ML Pin was also headmaster) on Phaya Thai Road in the vicinity of the university, and became known as the "University Preparatory School, Chulalongkorn University", or Rong Rian Triam Udom Suksa Haeng Chulalongkorn Maha Witthayalai (โรงเรียนเตรียมอุดมศึกษาแห่งจุฬาลงกรณมหาวิทยาลัย; triam udom suksa literally translates as university-preparatory [school]). The school, which was the first co-educational in the country, opened on 16 May 1938, and classes began on 19 May.

The school rapidly grew over the first few years, admitting up to 568 students in the 1940 academic year. In December 1941, however, the school was raided and occupied by Japanese forces invading Thailand in the course of World War II, forcing the staff and students to relocate to temporary locations around Bangkok. Teaching was hence adversely affected throughout the time of war. Classes briefly returned to the school in 1943, but had to again leave after the school was damaged by Allied bombing on 19 January 1944. Part of the staff and students were transferred to various cities around the country, where preparations had already taken place for the establishment of additional preparatory school campuses. (Changes of government policy would however later cause these campuses to close down.) The school remained occupied even at the conclusion of the war, this time by Allied forces.

Teaching finally returned to normal in 1946 after Allied forces withdrew from the school. During that period, government policy favoured expanding pre-collegiate level teaching to public schools under the Department of General Education instead of being provided by the universities. As a result, authority over the school was transferred from Chulalongkorn University to the Department of General Education on 1 July 1947. The school's students have since been required to take university entrance examinations as regular students, and the name of the school was shortened to "Triam Udom Suksa School". The school, however, retained use of the Phra Kiao as its symbol.

In June 1947, just prior to the transfer, a Teacher Training Department was created under the school's authority to support the expansion of the national school system. This department, which became known as the Satit (demonstration) School, would extend teaching to mathayom 1–6 levels, and authority was transferred to the College of Education (now Srinakharinwirot University) in 1955. It presently exists as Patumwan Demonstration School. As Triamudom is considered as the best high school in the country, Pathumwan Demonstration School ranked one of the best school as a biggest feeding school to Triamudom in recent years.

The demand for pre-collegiate level schooling saw a sharp increase in the late 1950s, resulting in the Department of Secondary Education setting up special pre-collegiate schools within regular school campuses. Such a school was set up near Orachon Canal in the eastern portion of Triam Udom Suksa School in 1958, and became known as "Triam Orachon". Another campus, Triam Bang Pu, was established at Bang Pu Seaside Resort in Samut Prakan Province before being moved to Sam Phran District, Nakhon Pathom Province, and became known as Triam Udom Suksa Sam Phran School. Both schools were merged with Triam Udom Suksa by 1964.

In 1960, the national curriculum was rewritten, and the educational stages were redefined with seven years' primary education and five years of secondary education. Two years' upper-secondary education, mathayom 4–5, replaced the pre-collegiate level. The school now taught in this level, and classes were divided into arts, sciences and general departments. The curriculum would be changed again in 1981, introducing the current three-year upper-secondary level (mathayom 4–6).

Since the 1950s, the school staff have on multiple occasions been assigned by the Ministry of Education to assist other schools in staff training and teaching strategy development. In anticipation of the possible need to relocate in the 1970s, the school helped found the Bodindecha and Triam Udom Suksa Pattanakarn Schools in 1975 and 1978. Queen's College, Ratchaburi was established with like assistance in 1992.

The school saw further expansion in the 1980s, partly due to the new national curriculum, and now had ninety classes. Several new buildings were built, and modern facilities were introduced, including the introduction of computer classes in 1992. The school received awards from the Department of General Education in 1982 and 1985, and the school library won awards in 1990 and 1991. Students featured prominently in national stages, and since 1990 have continuously won medals at the International Science Olympiads.

At present, Triam Udom Suksa School educates upper-secondary students in the mathayom 4–6 levels. As of the 2007 academic year, there were 105 classes with 4,617 students and 194 teachers.

Campus

Triam Udom Suksa School is located at 227 Phaya Thai Rd., Pathum Wan, Bangkok, amongst the campus of Chulalongkorn University. The school occupies 9.2 hectares between Phaya Thai and Henry Dunant Roads, and shares borders with the Patumwan Demonstration School of Srinakharinwirot University and the Uthenthawai campus of Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok, in addition to the many faculties of Chulalongkorn University.

The school has sixteen buildings, nine of which hold classrooms. The oldest buildings are lined along the school's main roadway which connects the two major roads bordering the school. The other buildings are scattered around the school campus, which is dominated by the sports field.

The oldest building, Building 1, was built in 1935 as the new site for the Mathayom Horwang School of Chulalongkorn University when it relocated from its former Windsor Palace site, and has been home to Triam Udom Suksa School since 1938. Designed with influences from the De Stijl movement by Italian architect Ercole Manfredi, it is regarded as the first use of modernist architecture in a Thai educational building. Construction of Building 2, originally known as Triam Udom Suka Building and serving as the school's main building, followed in 1938. It was designed by Thai engineer Kimchuang (Kanchana) Hengsuwanit. Building 3, also designed by Manfredi, was built in 1940.

The other classroom buildings are Khun Ying Rang Kantarat Building, Building 9, the Arts Building, the 55th and 60th Anniversary Buildings, and The King's 72nd Anniversary Building. Other buildings include the library (Building 4), auditorium, science lab, gymnasium, Building 8, and the 50th Anniversary Building, which holds many of the student clubs.

Curriculum

The school follows the national Curriculum of Basic Education, BE 2544 (2001 CE), providing three years of upper-secondary education, Mathayom 4–6. Subjects are grouped into eight basic subject areas, namely Thai language; mathematics; science; social studies, religion and culture; health and physical education; arts; vocations and technology; and foreign languages.

The school's curriculum consists of three levels. The basic level consists of all of the eight main subject areas, and is offered to all students, following the national curriculum. The second level divides the three main courses offered by the school according to their subject concentration into the science–mathematics, language–mathematics, and language concentrations. The third level provides subjects of more specialised interests and is reflected in the individual programmes followed by each student. Overall, the school offers twelve specific courses of study, in which all students fulfil the national basic education requirements upon graduation. The specific programmes are displayed in the adjacent table.

Admission to the school is mainly through examinations, although there are also designated quotas for students with specific abilities and achievements. The examination process is highly competitive; over 13,000 students applied for 1,100 available seats in the 2007 academic year.

Academics

Triam Udom Suksa School has long had among the highest university entry rates for Mathayom 6 students in Thailand, with 87.37 percent of students passing the university entrance examinations in 2003. Under the new O-NET examination system, the school's students averaged 363.54 out of 500 points in the 2006 academic year, the highest among schools under the Offices of the Basic and Private Education Commissions and university demonstration schools (which does not however include Mahidol Wittayanusorn School, whose students averaged 376.91 points over Triam Udom Suksa's 355.53 points in the 2005 academic year and had the highest three-year (2005–2007) average of 75.40 per cent, while Triam Udom Suksa ranked second at 71.01 per cent.)

The school's culture tends to highly value academic achievements, although its students have also excelled in many other extracurricular activities. Recipients of the King's Scholarship and medal-winners in the International Science Olympiads—national stages in which the school has long dominated—are honoured in the school's hall of fame, Room 111.

Triam Udom Suksa is also a partner school of the initiative "Schulen: Partner der Zukunft" by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Extracurricular activities

Student activities are mostly structured around the elected student committee and the 43 student clubs supported by the school (of which membership in at least one is mandatory, with one timetable period per week designated for club activities). Among the various clubs are the Thai Traditional Music Club, whose mahori ensemble has won multiple national championships, the Triam Udom Suksa "Wing!" Symphony Orchestra, which won first prize in the 8th Asian Symphonic Band Competition 2006, and the French Chorus of Triamudomsuksa, which has also won multiple competitions, including Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's Cup in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2012. Students regularly participate in regional and national academic competitions; the school team is usually a major player in the televised Shell Quiz programme.

As with many other schools in Thailand, a major event the student body participates in is the annual sports festival, an elaborate event for which each class building spends months in preparation, and includes competitions not only in athletics but also parade and audience displays.

In recent years, Triam Udom Suksa students have also produced science projects competing on the international level, winning awards from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

Japan

Notable alumni

Notable teachers