Abstract
The history of Chinese schools in Thailand dated back to the beginning of the twentieth century when their educational activities were conducted freely. But afterwards as the Chinese schools were seen as the symbol of Chinese nationalism, Thai Government began to consider interference in Chinese education. The first official action taken was the enforcement of the 1918 Private Schools Act. By this Act, the Chinese schools were subject to stay as a kind of Thai private schools under the Government's control. Under the same curriculum as other public schools, Chinese language was allowed to be taught only from the first to fourth grades. With various limitations, the Chinese schools have had difficulty in keeping their original role as an institution for maintaining ethnic culture including Chinese language.
