In many cases, the term "Indigenous" is defined as "local", "tribal", and "native".  Also Indigenous People are often referred to distinctive tribes of minority groups, such as the Aboriginal Australians, American Indians, Indicia, and so on.  However, the term "Indigenous Knowledge" has a broader and more flexible scope of meaning.

What is Indigenous Knowledge?

According to the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is local knowledge unique to a given culture or society. It is the systematic body of knowledge acquired by local people through the accumulation of experiences, informal experiments, and intimate understanding of the environment in a given culture.

In Warren, D.M., and B. Rajasekaran's "Putting Local Knowledge to Good Use", Lori Ann Thrupp pointed out that Indigenous Knowledge systems are adaptive skills of local people, usually derived from many years of experience, that have often been communicated through oral traditions and learned through family members and generations.

How Important is the Indigenous Knowledge?

In the case of Thailand, Indigenous Knowledge is substituted by the term, "Local Wisdom" or "Thai Wisdom", which means the body of knowledge, abilities, and skills of Thai people accumulated through many years of experience, learning, development, and transmission. It has helped solving the problems and contributed to the development of our people's way of life in accordance with the changing time and environment."

In the past forty years, however, Thailand's economic and social development has placed an emphasis on industrialization and technology, which depended too much on Western knowledge and know-how. Even worse, such misguided development brought along with it several serious problems such as trade imbalance, urbanization, cultural and environmental destruction, all of which affect the quality of life of the people.

The economic crisis that has occurred during the past three years was the outcome of such mistakes and caused us to reconsider, review and re-evaluate our social and economic development plan. We discovered that we had pursued Western way of development and entirely neglected our own indigenous or local knowledge, the splendid treasure that has played important roles in building the nation's unity and dignity. Now it is the time we should turn back to our own philosophy, our own culture, and our own indigenous knowledge which will be referred to as "Thai Knowledge" hereafter. Among our Thai Knowledge, "Sufficient Economy" the principle introduced by His Majesty the King of Thailand is highly acknowledged and being implemented nationwide to pave the way for sustainable development.

Types of Thai Indigenous Knowledge

The research conducted by many of public and private institutes indicate that our indigenous or Thai knowledge can be categorized as 10 fields of knowledge, namely agriculture, manufacturing and handicrafts, Thai traditional medicine, natural resources and environment management, community business, community welfare, traditional art, organizational management, language and literature, religion and traditions.

Before Thailand adopted the educational system from the West, we had had our own educational system which was informal and provided in three institutions; home, temple and palace. Parents taught children family occupation, social values and traditions while monks taught reading, morality and Buddhism. The palace was the place where all kinds of the nation's classical art were developed, preserved and taught.

The distinctive features of indigenous education are, of course, learning by doing, learning through authentic experiences, individualized instruction, and happy learning, all of which are hardly found in the schooling system of education.

The Recession of Indigenous Knowledge

In retrospect, there are three main reasons why Thai indigenous knowledge has faded away from our Thai way of life. First, it was the system of education that we adopted from the West, which focuses on modern knowledge, such as mathematics, sciences, etc. Along with the system is the professional teachers, who have also been trained by the modern system of teacher training. Second, it was the lack of research and development in the field of indigenous knowledge. Most of the research both in educational and research institutes is conducted in the field of modern science. Third, the status of indigenous knowledge specialists was not recognized when compared to modern knowledge educators.

The Policy on Thai Indigenous Knowledge

The Office of the National Education Commission (ONEC), as Thailand's national education policy organization, has conducted research on Thai knowledge in order to revitalize and return it to our educational system.

We have proposed to the government the national policy on Thai knowledge, establishment of the organization in charge, establishment of the Thai knowledge learning centers, remuneration for Thai knowledge teachers, and the government's commitment to support the operation of the learning centers.

Our research-based policy was accepted by the cabinet, allowing the implementation of the policy through the main strategies as follows:

Strategy 1 Establishment of Thai Knowledge Council, which consists of Thai knowledge specialists, who will decide over the matters relating to a curriculum, instruction, and promotion of Thai knowledge.

Strategy 2 Establishment of the National Research Institute for Thai Knowledge and Education, which will promote the research on Thai knowledge.

Strategy 3 Establishment of Thai Knowledge Fund to provide support for the research, education and teachers of Thai knowledge.

Strategy 4 Promotion of Teaching and Learning Thai Knowledge in the three systems of education: formal, non-formal, and informal.

Strategy 5 Honoring and Rewarding Thai Knowledge teachers, who have developed their expertise through informal education or self-learning, so that they will be recognized at the same level as certified school teachers. They will be encouraged to set up their own learning centers to transmit their Thai Knowledge to the young generation in the community.

Strategy 6 Formation of the Thai Knowledge Information Network System to collect and disseminate information on Thai knowledge. The network will also be a channel that Thai knowledge learning centers can communicate and exchange information through the internet system.

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand

Fortunately, in 1997 ONEC had an opportunity to propose the contents of education and culture during the enactment of the new Constitution. With strong support of many segments of the society, Thai knowledge was recognized as an important part in the Constitution.

Section 46 stated that Persons so assembling as to be a traditional community shall have the right to conserve or restore their customs, local knowledge, arts or good culture of their community and of the nation and participate in the management, maintenance, preservation and exploitation of natural resources and the environment in a balanced fashion and persistently as provided by law.

Section 81 The state shall promote local knowledge and national arts and culture.

Section 289 A local government organization has the duty to conserve local arts, custom, knowledge or good culture.

These prescriptions paved the way for all organizations concerned to revitalize the Thai knowledge and utilize it as a means to strengthen many communities once destroyed by misguided development.

The National Education Act

To comply with the Constitution, the National Education Act, which was also enacted on research basis, expands further the roles of Thai knowledge, referred to as "Thai Wisdom", in the educational system .

Section 23 Education through formal, non-formal, and informal approaches shall give emphases to knowledge, morality, learning process, and integration of the knowledge about mathematics, science, languages, vocational skills, conservation and utilization of natural resources and the environment. Most of all, knowledge about religion, art, culture, sports, Thai wisdom, and the application of wisdom is also emphasized.

Section 24 In organizing the learning process, educational institutions and agencies concerned shall enable individuals to learn at all times and in all places. Cooperation with parents, guardians, and all parties concerned in the community shall be sought to develop jointly the learners in accord with their potentiality.

Section 25 The state shall promote the running and establishment, in sufficient number and with efficient functioning, of all types of lifelong learning sources, namely: public libraries, museums, art galleries, zoological gardens, public parks, botanical gardens, science and technology parks, sport and recreation centers, data bases, and other sources of learning.

Section 27 basic education institutions shall be responsible for prescribing curricular substance relating to needs of the community and the society, local wisdom and attributes of desirable members of the family, community, society, and nation.

Section 57 Educational agencies shall mobilize human resources in the community to participate in educational provision by contributing their experience, knowledge, expertise, and local wisdom for educational benefits. Contributions from those who promote and support educational provision shall be duly recognized.

ONEC's Policy Implementation on Indigenous Knowledge

Realizing that there exist in the community experts of Thai knowledge who have already operated their own learning centers, the National Education Commission has searched, selected, honored and promoted 30 local knowledge experts to be honored as the so-called "Thai Knowledge Teachers." They are representatives of diversified areas of local knowledge. These teachers must have accumulated their knowledge and skills for many years and been recognized for their contribution to the transmission of local knowledge to the communities. After being selected, they are required to organize a program of teaching Thai knowledge to young people and receive financial support accordingly.

Thai knowledge learning can be categorized in three types: Thai knowledge Learning Unit where an individual knowledge teacher operates his or her own learning center; Mobile Thai knowledge Learning Unit where the teachers will move from place to place; and Thai knowledge Learning Center where Thai knowledge teachers of various fields will take turn teaching at these rather large-scale centers.

Some Case Studies of Thai Knowledge Teachers

Case Study I Mun Samsi: The Promotion of Organic Agriculture Comminity

Born in a farmer's family of Yasothorn province in the northeast, Mun Samsi, like many other farmers, received only primary education. Realizing the danger of chemical fertilizers, Mun has developed his expertise in developing organic fertilizers made from decay of plants and animals. Further, he initiated the assembly of villagers for organizing community business, community bank, and village fund. Some of his famous innovations are the production of toxic-free rice, herb medicine, etc.

Case Study II Srisawalai Khamrangsi: The Transmission of Weaving Art to Youths

Born as a rural village girl in Nan province in the north, Srisawalai also finished her education at only the primary school. However, she attended the non-formal education courses and is now pursuing her bachelor's degree in business management at a nearby community college. Srisawalai was selected by Nan province to attend a training course of vocational development for girls organized by Community Development Department. After the training, she took leadership in organizing a group of young girls to practise weaving by themselves. The group have developed the unique local style and pattern of cloth. Their products extended from plain material to table cloths, scarves, local costumes. They then initiated the natural dying colors made from tree barks. The number of group members keeps increasing and they are now self-sufficient in terms of economy. It is a genuine learning organization where members always search for new ideas and innovations to improve the quality of their products. The outcome of her endeavor is that her students in the group have acquired knowledge and skills in weaving, earned a living to support their families. Most of all, the village can preserve its local culture and wisdom.

Case Study III Amporn Duangpan: The Development of Community Welfare Fund

Amporn, born in Songkhla, the south of Thailand, also had only primary education background. He used to work as a janitor at a primary school while running his own rubber and fruit plantations. With his vision and progressive way of thinking, Amporn started a saving group or so-called a community bank of which villagers are members. He initiated a special regulation of the bank and has run the bank carefully for all villagers' benefits. While the country's economic crisis caused collapses in business at the national level, his community bank has surprisingly accumulated over 80 million baht in savings. He further initiated the welfare system for members, such as medical fee, wedding facilities, life insurance, and many others, by using the interests gained from running the community bank. His success made him known to the public and his initiative was expanded all over the country. He is very often invited to transmit his knowledge and experience to other communities.

Conclusion

The indigenous knowledge or local wisdom enables lifelong learning in society. It not only strengthens the community's economic situation on the basis of self-sufficiency, but also moral values, and local culture among community people.

In the globalized world, it is certain that most of the contents in the internet will focus on the Western knowledge, ideas, and culture. However, if there is nothing done to promote the learning of local knowledge, our future generations will definitely not understand where we are in the world or even lose the root of their culture.

Education in the globalization age should therefore be the balanced integration between global knowledge and indigenous knowledge. Therefore, modern science and technology must go hand in hand with indigenous or local knowledge for sustainable development in any community, international understanding, and peace and harmony of the world.