Fifteenyearold Saowanee Kaewkhuntong never knew what a communist was. But working on a Thailand Research Fund (TRF) project, she learnt about the hardline rebels who were evicted from Thailand decades ago, including some in her home town, as well as tips on how to be a good researcher.
"I have only heard the word 'Communist', but never knew how it involved ancestors in my community. But doing research into the history of my community made me love my hometown more," said youth researcher Saowanee, a student at Tapanpittaya School in Sribanpot dis¬trict in Phatthalung province.
Saowanee and four friends at the same school have studied about the history of Communist battles against government officials in their community several decades ago.
They collected information by interviewing senior and elderly people in their community who witnessed what happened in the past and went to seek more evidence of fighting on a mountain called Khao Kaew, where a battle was fought.
They studied the economic and social aspects of the community before the battle, how the fighting began and the effects of the battle on people in the community both in the past and at present. Coresearcher Tanakorn Kaewmak, 17, was pleased to put together a written document for the younger generation.
Santisak Somnun, 16, who is in Matthayom 4 (Grade 10), hoped the oral research would be used as an evidence to prove that villagers in the community possessed the area for a long time. He said the villagers had allegedly intruded on a prohibited area.
TRF supports such work because it wants to instil an enthusiasm for research among young people through a programme that also helps them better understand their home towns. TRF has a network covering 700 schools nationwide. The project focuses on teenagers. With collaboration from teachers and others in their commu¬nities, they were tasked to research local history and "bring back the old days".
Also having fun were Rajaprajanugroh 6 School students in Thungsong Nakhon Si Thammarat's Thung Song district, which conduct¬ed a study about a long existing canal and local people's way of life related to the canal.
Saowanee Chomtong, 12, imagined the peaceful way of life when the canal was the main means of transport and local products were bartered with those of neighbours, and people diverted the water for agricultural purposes. All those scenes were derived from her interviews with eld¬erly people on Klong Pang canal.
"That simple way of life no longer exists. Garbage has been dropped into the canal, some kinds of fish have dis¬appeared, and no one travels along the canal as travelling by vehicles on land is more convenient," she said.
The research also encouraged adviserteacher Sompong Nitisakulkran to include the findings in his teaching of local history. He also wants to present the findings to community chiefs, to encourage them to revive their more splendid past. For their project, he expects other students will study different environmental problems in their community.
TRF's coordinator Lertchai Sirichai was also pleased with how the project went. Students from 126 schools in six Southern provinces undertook 142 studies.
"Local people, especially youths don't know much about the back¬ground of their homeland. They should learn what has been the strong points of their community so they are able to deal with coming changes utilising those factors," said Lertchai, who is also a lecturer at Walailak University.
Lertchai was glad that the Education Ministry will work with TRF next year and fund the project in an attempt to have 2,000 basic edu¬cation teachers across the country study local history within the next two years.
"We want to educate students in different parts of the country on their local history. So they will be able to share special aspects and history of each local area, and learn and reflect on the differences," he said.