page_title: Pin Malakul
section_title: Early life and education
hierarchical_section_title: Pin Malakul / Personal life / Early life and education
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Mom Luang Pin Malakul as a student at Suankularb Wittayalai School (then known as Wat Ratchaburana School), Thailand
context_page_description: Mom Luang Pin Malakul was a Thai professor, educator and writer. His contributions to education in Thailand include the establishment of various institutions of higher education, the introduction of fixed class schedules, and the implementation of teacher-training programmes. In his career he served as Director-General of the Department of General Education, later becoming Permanent Secretary, and Minister, of Education. He was also a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO. His writings earned him the title of National Artist in 1987, and the 100th anniversary of his birth was celebrated by the UNESCO in 2003 as recognition of his contribution to the advancement of education in Thailand and Southeast Asia.
context_section_description: Mom Luang Pin Malakul (hereafter referred to as ML Pin) was born on 24 October 1903 to Mom Rajawongse Pia (MR Pia) and Thanpuying Sa-ngiam Malakul. He was the sixth of thirteen children (although the fourth, and the only son, to survive past birth). His father, a nobleman and great-grandson of King Phuttha Loetla Naphalai, had served as King Vajiravudh's guardian during the King's overseas studies and held posts including Ambassador to the United Kingdom. MR Pia's work was instrumental in the establishment of higher education in Thailand (then known as Siam) and he later became the third Minister of Public Instruction under King Vajiravudh.
  ML Pin recalled in his autobiography that although his mother was a kind and loving figure, his father was rather strict and acted more like a teacher than a father, and that he was often fearful of him. A loyal servant of the crown, MR Pia introduced ML Pin to King Vajiravudh when he was seven years old. Another often-recounted story from his childhood is that of how, before having learned to count, when his mother asked him to gather half a bunch of betel leaves for her, ML Pin set down to picking up one leaf with each hand at a time, separating them equally into two piles.
  At the age of four, ML Pin began receiving preliminary education from teachers who came to teach at the family home on Damrongrak Road, next to Varadis Palace. He enrolled at Suankularb Wittayalai School (then known as Wat Ratchaburana School) shortly before turning seven in 1910, and after half a year his examination results placed him at Mathayom 1 level. In 1914 he was accepted into the Royal Pages School (now Vajiravudh College). Half a year later, King Vajiravudh named him one of eight Royal Page Students (นักเรียนมหาดเล็กรับใช้) in the king's personal service. Although he did not attend regular classes at the school afterwards, he passed exams at Mathayom 5 level (grade 11) at the end of the school year.
  As a Royal Page Student, ML Pin's duties included various tasks in the royal household as well as accompanying the King in his various activities. The Royal Page Students were involved in plays and sports games held in court and also in activities of the King's scouting-related paramilitary movement, the Wild Tiger Corps. ML Pin also became an editor of the Dusit Samit Magazine, part of the King's Dusit Thani miniature city/micronation project. One memorable task appointed to him by the King was to determine the day of week King Naresuan left Ayutthaya for his famous elephant duel, a problem ML Pin was unable to solve at the time, but became the inspiration for his later development of the "Everlasting Calendar". He lived in the royal court most of the time and received a salary of twenty to thirty baht.
caption: ML Pin as a student at Suankularb Wittayalai School
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