Pattaya School No. 11 opened a new library for use by both students and the public made possible through a donation by the city’s top education supervisor.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome, deputy mayors and city council members were on hand for the Jan. 15 ribbon-cutting of the Wannasri Library. The 850,000 baht facility was funded with donations from 20 benefactors, with 500,000 baht coming from the family of Wannapa Wannasri, head of the Pattaya Education Department’s Educational Supervisory Unit.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome (center) and Wannapa Wannasri (3rd right), along with honored guests and sponsors, unveil the new Wannasri Library at Pattaya School No. 11.
“The sponsoring of the library is what the family wanted since we have been taught by our parents to help provide opportunities to those wanting to learn,” said Wannapa. Neither her nor her husband’s parents attended higher education. “Their vision was instilled in me and other members of our family and, since we had this good opportunity, we decided to sponsor the library for children to have an education source leading to progress in education management.”
Principal Jirasak Jitsom presided over the ceremony, which saw nine monks from area temples bless the facility and Wannapa make additional merit by donating books for the new center.
Vilawan Hengtrakul (left) and Pratheep Malhotra, MD of Pattaya Mail Media Group, present books as alms at the opening of the Wannasri Library in Pattaya School No. 11.
Features include a multimedia-education room, computer-research room, newspaper corner stocked with Thai-, English- and German-language publications, magazine corner, presentation area and administrative offices. The library is open to students, teachers and the general public.
“A library is an important factor in youth education as it connects directly with reading,” Itthiphol said. “This will be the place where children can develop their excellence in academics to become a national strength.”
The spacious library is able to accommodate many students.
“I am happy that the school has a new library since the old one is quite far from my school building and is smaller with not enough educational tools,” said Mattayom 4 student Nattakan Phinthurak. “The new library will be beneficial in researching materials or homework because the new library is larger and has enough computers.”
