For more than a century, Thailand has been recognizing the importance of the scout community with July 1st of every year marked as the country’s Scout Day.

The concept of Scouting was first founded in Thailand by King Rama VI in 1911, in order to train civil servants necessary military-related skills so that they could help keep order in times of peace and become back-up troops in times of war.

The formation of Thai scouts started with Wild Tiger Corps in May, 1911, which was intended to teach Thai people about patriotism, humanity, sacrifice, unity and sense of gratitude.

A few months later, Thailand’s scouting was officially established, making the country the 3rd nation in the world to have its own scouts, after UK and the US, and the only country where scouting was directly founded by a monarch.

The Thai government, since then, has named July 1st “National Scout Day” in honor of King Rama VI, who has been remembered as the Father of Thai Scouting.

Deputy Permanent Secretary to the Education Ministry Niwat Nakawech, who is the Secretary-General of the National Scout Organization of Thailand, said that, this year, the main event is set at the National Stadium in Bangkok on Sunday, July 1st.

Mr. Niwat stated that various activities have been planned to pay respect to King Rama VI, the founder of Thai Scouting, and HM the King, the Chief Scout of Thailand.

According to the Secretary-General of the National Scout Organization of Thailand, HM the King has assigned HRH Princess Soamsawali to observe the oat-taking ceremony and the marching of participating scouts.

More than 6,000 girl guides and boy scouts are scheduled to take part in this year’s celebration, which features a special performance to show Thai scouts’ ultimate veneration to HM the King and a national marching contest as well as many other interesting activities.

Source: http://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news.php?id=255506260001