In Thailand, young students participated in an eSports tournament. This would be nothing new if it weren’t for the fact that they were Buddhist monks. Hardly anyone would have thought that the young students of a monastery school would actually win.
What kind of students are they? A group of young monks participated in an eSports tournament this month in Thailand. The young students are in the upper grades of Balee Sathit Suksa, a school that trains monks.
In the school, the monks study Buddhism for twenty hours a week, but they are also educated in secular subjects, such as computer science. In a computer class, the students learned about eSports and began practicing with a mobile game in their free time.
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What kind of tournament was it? The tournament was held at a university. The young monks wanted to prove themselves in the mobile game “Speed Drifters” – and even won.
“The novices wanted to try participating in this competition. So we gave them this opportunity. However, we did not expect them to actually win,” said Kokkiad Chaisamchareonlap, the academic coordinator and head monk of the school.
The monks’ school was not the only religious institution to participate in the tournament. However, it was the only religious school that could also take home a prize.
For this, the students are criticized: However, not everyone in Thailand is happy about the monks’ victory. Online, the students are criticized for wearing their monks’ robes during the competition. This would be “inappropriate”.
The head monk Kokkiad disagrees and says that it is important for students to pursue and develop their interests. “We wanted to give the students an opportunity. Many of them do not have that, as they come from poor families or broken homes.”
The images in this article are from the university’s Facebook page.
