Scholar Urges Cultural Heritage Teaching Without New Curriculum
Chulalongkorn University academic Atthapol Anantawarasuk says Thai dress and cultural heritage can be taught within the existing school curriculum without creating new courses. He warns against using cultural education to promote hatred or exclusive ownership claims, stressing that ASEAN cultures share common roots through historical exchange and adaptation. UNESCO heritage recognition aims to acknowledge community value, not assign ownership.
On November 10, 2026, Atthapol Anantawarasuk, a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Education, disclosed that the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture are preparing to compile bodies of knowledge on Thai textiles, handicrafts, history, and cultural diversity for integration into learner development and the creative economy to generate vocational skills and community income.
Regarding the integration of royally endorsed Thai dress and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) into educational promotion, Atthapol noted that cultural content already exists in the basic education curriculum, particularly in social studies, religion, and culture, as well as history. He believes this cooperation can proceed under the existing curriculum without drafting a new one, since cultural heritage at Thai, ASEAN, and international levels is already specified in curriculum indicators. Schools merely need to add learning topics aligned with contemporary cultural dynamics — for example, if Thai dress gains UNESCO intangible heritage status, schools can incorporate it as an additional topic under existing subjects rather than creating a new course.
Atthapol emphasized that the key lies in teachers designing learning activities, not the curriculum itself, because the curriculum does not mandate rote memorization. Instead, it allows learners to analyze how each cultural heritage emerged from social factors and contexts. Teachers should move beyond having students memorize what something is, where it originated, or which country it belongs to. Learners must understand the process of cultural origination and development through human and social interaction, especially in the ASEAN region where many cultures share common roots and result from exchange, adoption, and adaptation.
Cultural education should help children understand their own identity and connections to other cultures, fostering appreciation for cultural diversity and global citizenship. "We must not teach culture to create hatred or to declare exclusive ownership, because no one solely owns culture — it arises from shared human interaction," Atthapol warned. The ministries must guard against turning history and cultural learning into tools for ownership claims or fostering superiority of one culture over another. In reality, peoples of the Suvarnabhumi region have continuously communicated, exchanged, and adapted cultures before fitting them to their environments. UNESCO intangible heritage registration aims not to declare ownership rights but to recognize and appreciate the distinctive value and identity of communities.
