A group of 50 Buddhist monks yesterday expressed their objection to the Education Ministry's proposal to change the name of the "Buddhist-oriented School" project to "Dhamma-oriented School" in order to support the study of other religions.

The group - comprising student monks from Mahachulalongkorn-

rajavidyalaya University and Mahamakut Buddhist University - submitted their objection in a letter to the deputy permanent secretary for Education, Boonrat Wongyai, who accepted it on behalf of Education Minister Wijit Srisa-an.

They object because the ministry's planned action would have a long-term impact, especially on Buddhists, because more than half the schools across the country are located on Buddhist temples or land, and in their view it is inappropriate to bring other religions into a Buddhist environment.

The group is demanding that the Buddhist-oriented School project - which has 19,000 members in schools nationwide - maintain its name, and are claiming that the name Dhamma-oriented School is not suitable in relation to other religions because the word dhamma only appears in Buddhism.

The monks said they would return for an answer from the ministry in a week.

Phra Maha Chow Tassaneeyo, a lecturer at Mahachulalongkorn- rajavidyalaya University, said there had been a previous attempt by Bangkok deputy governor Wallop Suwandee to have 434 Buddhist-oriented schools in the capital become Dhamma-oriented schools so that students could learn about three religions - Buddhism, Islam and Christianity.

The monk said it was unfair to expect schoolchildren to place equal study emphasis on three religions, as 95 per cent of Thais are of the Buddhist faith.

He said all religions had their own curriculum, such as Islamic Studies, which is taught at a school with more than 100 Islamic students.

He added that the ministry's idea had been heavily criticised by Buddhist monks.

Boonrat said he would report to the minister and permanent secretary, but he believed the movement stemmed from a misunderstanding because the ministry had not yet implemented the idea, which is still under discussion.