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EDUCATION / MORAL LESSONS
Call to keep Aesop's fables in nurseries

SIRKUL BUNNAG

Students and academics have voiced strong opposition to the Public Health Minister's idea to remove Aesop's fables from the ministry-run nurseries and replace them with more contemporary tales.

Public Health Minister Phinij Jarusombat said modern fables would be a better tool to stimulate child intellectual development. He was speaking during a visit to a day-care centre in Nonthaburi province.

Chulalongkorn University Book Shop was quick to launch a public hearing on the issue. Yesterday's discussion drew about 40 participants eager to exchange opinions.

The discussion was led by Associate Professor Kulwara Chupongpairoj, head of the children's literature programme, faculty of humanities, Srinakharinwirot University.

She said Aesop's fables foster basic morality among children, despite the fact they had been around a long time.

If Mr Phinij would much like to improve the ministry's nurseries, he should provide them with a wide selection of fables, and teachers who can inspire children's creativity.

Wisit Roajpojanawit, managing director of Pattana Suksa printing house, said the Public Health Minister's concept would do more harm than good.

The minister seemed to think he saw no point in teaching children moral principles.

Pornchanok Ake-uea-mani, a Matayom Suksa 3 student at Chulalongkorn Demonstration School, has been reading Aesop's fables since childhood and picked moral aspects out of them.

Weerapoj Priyawon, a sophomore at Chulalongkorn University's faculty of law, said Aesop's fables were timeless. Unlike TV dramas and computer games, they convey moral principles, and brought families together when parents read out the stories to their children. Friday January 27, 2006

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