`Women with dhamma' open school for girls

Pranee Sengsui burst into tears when she found out her father could not afford her education anymore. She had to leave school at the age of 12 when she had only just finished primary school.

Pranee is the eldest of five children of a poor farming family in Nakhon Si Thammarat province.

"Dad told me he could not pay the tuition fees for all of us. Someone had to drop out, and it was me," the girl recalled.

While most of her peers went on to secondary school, Pranee helped her parents with the farming and household chores. Three years later, a piece of good news.

Pranee's cousin told her a nunnery in Ratchaburi Province was offering free education for poor girls. Not wanting to let the chance pass by, Pranee begged her parents to allow her to go to the nunnery. Fortunately, both of them agreed.

Pranee's studies started again when she was 15. At the school, she found many girls in a similar predicament: deprived by poverty of the opportunity to study.

"Too often, we've seen poor young girls being treated cruelly in factories or even seduced into the sex business," said Khun Mae Prathin Kwan-orn, the 52-year-old director of the school. "Therefore, we want to help them and prepare them for life, and to prevent them from being exploited," she said in a gentle voice with kindness emanating from her eyes.

In 1990, a group of Buddhist nuns founded Dhammajarinee Witthaya at the Ratchaburi branch of the Nun's Institute of Thailand to give poor girls a chance to continue their studies. Unlike conventional schools which only prepare students intellectually, Dhammajarinee Witthaya give its students a religious education as well.

At Dhammajarinee (meaning "women with dhamma") students take standard academic subjects and are tested twice a year by the Education Ministry's Non-Formal Education Department.

When it began, the school only took junior high school students, but it has now extended its curriculum to senior high school level. Currently, 42 girls study in the school's 90-rai compound with both nuns and teachers from outside giving the lessons.

"We teach them some extra skills like typewriting, sewing and how to make handicrafts. We believe this can benefit them when they leave school," said Khun Mae Prathin.

The nunnery, however, believes that moral training is more important than textbook learning.

Every afternoon, students must attend a two-hour dhamma class, and they have to abide by eight Buddhist precepts.

"We only eat breakfast and lunch. For dinner we just drink some juice. We aren't allowed to watch television, except for some news programmes. Radio programmes are also prohibited," explained 19-year-old Pranee who has lived at the nunnery for four years .

"At first, it was difficult for me to follow such a strict regime. Often, I felt lonely. After a month and a half however, I finally adjusted. I felt life at the nunnery became easier for me as I started to make more friends here," she said.

In the beginning, Pranee felt she had to comply with the rules because she thought it was the only way she would get education. Now however, she feels the moral training and strict regulations have changed her for the better.

"I used to be a hot-headed and disobedient girl. Now I'm calmer and more sensible. I feel sorry for my past wrongdoings to my parents. I want to go back in time and be their good girl," said Pranee, who practises meditation for an hour each day.

If women are taught dhamma, Khun Mae Prathin believes, they will strike a balance in their life and find a way to live without exploiting others. "This is the goal of Dhammajarinee Witthaya. We believe it should be the goal of education."

Dhammajarinee also observes non-violence but does not believe in the "spare the rod, spoil the child" philosophy. While many teachers in ordinary schools don't think twice about yelling at their students, polite conversation is the rule at Dhammajarinee because Buddhism prohibits abusive language.

"A former student who is now studying at a teacher's college, said she was fined when she broke a dish. If that happens here, we just teach her to be more careful. That's all," the school director said.

Realising the great differences between life in the nunnery and the reality of life beyond its protective walls, Khun Mae Prathin also tries to prepare students for what is to come.

"I told them that they will encounter insincere people when they leave the school. But they have to be patient and be true to themselves. They should not feel resentful or discouraged. Life is a learning process. While we still live, we must learn. Don't think everything will be bad. We can learn from everything that happens to us," she said.

Peacefully as the lives of the students seem to be, not many are willing to devote their lives to the nunnery.

"I would like to visit the school at least twice a year after I graduate, but I don't think about living here permanently. I want to go out and earn money to help my family," said Pranee who will finish her studies next March.

The girls have seen how difficult the nuns lives are. Being a nun means resisting temptations coming from both society and yourself, said Khun Mae Prathin.

"It's okay if they want to leave and don't want to become nuns," she explained. "Because while they are staying with us, they get some principles that will guide them to a better and brighter future. That's all we care about."

Note: Last academic year, some girls missed their chance to get an education because Dhammajarinee Witthaya did not have enough funds to support all the girls applying for a place in the school. More than money, the school needs morally-qualified teachers. Anyone interested in donating money or volunteering to work at the school can contact Khun Mae Prathin Kwan-orn on (032) 281-058.

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