was founded by royal decree in Phnom Penh and renamed Ecole Supérieure de Pali in 1922. Having the aim to enhance the study of Buddhism through teaching monks "proper" Pali and Sanskrit, two Cambodian monks were in 1922 sent to EFEO Hanoi for language training. Lao monks first went to Phnom Penh to study at the Buddhist Institute, but Lao branches were finally opened in 1931, reflecting the peripheral position of Laos in the colonial project. The French introduced new curricula based on the study of selected and appropriate texts, awarded monks with certificates and printed Buddhist books. Gregory Kourilsky and Soren Ivarsson have explored this restructuring of Buddhist education under French colonialism. They argue that the agendas behind this reorganization of Buddhism in Cambodia and Laos were similar: In order to build a national Buddhism within the context of Indochina, Siamese influence had to be curtailed. Instead of Bangkok, the Khmer and the Lao branches of the Buddhist Institute were to become centers for the higher education for monks. This sponsorship and control of Buddhism was also grounded in Buddhism's potential for anti-colonial resistance: During the early phase of French colonialism Buddhist millennial movements caused major troubles for the French regime, and parts of the Khmer sangha also opposed French influence. The influence of these colonial reforms in the field of monastic education were somewhat neutralized by the increasing political struggles during the 1950s, and finally the socialist revolution in 1975. However, during the first years of independence until 1975, signs of secularization also became visible in the domain of monastic education: While a state school system was spreading, monastic education became an increasingly specialized subfield. Political Struggles and the coming of the revolution: Buddhism and the Pathet Lao The Communist treatment of religion in Laos has diverged from the experience of many other countries which have had a communist regime. Instead of repressing or banning religion outright, the Communists in Laos used the Buddhist Sangha as a vehicle to achieve political aims during the Cold War. Buddhism and monastic institutions became from the beginning of the 1950s fields where partially clandestine surveillance operations were carried out, both by Royal Lao Government forces and by more left-leaning politicians. Advocats of a middle way between socialism and capitalism such as Boun Souvannavong at the beginning gained support by prominent monks in Vientiane, but were increasingly marginalized when the political polarizations