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The Nation, 27th June 2000

SRIWITTAYAPAKNAM School has taken the lead in preparing its students for the era of e-commerce by making the computer central to the way its students study, learn and communicate - beginning at the primary level.

Better known as Srinai, the school offers an entirely computer-based learning environment, including two school e-commerce sites. And one student earned regional recognition after developing his own website.

"We started using computer-based teaching tools in 1997 and the initiative has borne fruitful results," said principal Seesagoon Krishanachinda. "It helps improve our students' learning skills much faster than traditional teaching methods."

Suruchada Panpairat,11, said the innovative lessons make studying more fun.

"My parents are happy to see my progress with the computer," Suruchada said.

It hasn't come cheaply, of course. The school has invested more than Bt5 million on 150 computers. But offsetting just a bit of those costs are the school's two e-commerce sites: www.thaicybermarket.com and www.thaihypermarket.com. The two sites help students learn about e-commerce, and provide a market for books and souvenirs, and a small bit of revenue for the school.

The sites contain links to other online book shops such as amazon.com and 800.com. When anyone buys a book at one of these sites through the school's link, the school earns a small commission.

But the initiative isn't all about e-commerce and making money. Srinai encourages students to e-mail kids around the world.

And former student Nattawud Daoruang, 14, has gained attention after launching his own website, www.thailandlife.com, which has received more than 130,000 hits since being launched a few months ago.

Nattawud's passion for the Internet grew during his time at Srinai and now he has five homepages in all, including www.thaiscout.com and Thailandmovies.com.

His passion gained him and the school some attention. He was featured in Asiaweek magazine, and the publicity led to a sponsorship and a free Internet connection for the school.

"The Mweb people in Hong Kong read my story in Asiaweek and were interested in sponsoring my school website. They have given us a free Internet access and server and even came to our school once to teach students to write homepages," he said.

Nattawud is now joining the Think Quest contest, a homepage writing contest, with another two friends from overseas whom he met over the Internet.

"The rule is you have to form a team with three different nationalities. A boy in the USA saw my homepage and was interested so he asked me to join him. We are now working on the content of the website," he said.

BY SAIROONG DHAMACHAROEN

The Nation