Dozens of monkeys took over a school playground as terrified students hid inside classrooms.

Footage shows the troop rampaging across a volleyball court surrounded by buildings in the compound in Maha Sarakham province on June 9.

A concerned teacher said: ‘The school is near Kosambi Forest Park. There are monkeys here almost every day.'

Staff said the monkeys left after several minutes. It is not known why they descended on the school, but in other parts of the country, large numbers of monkeys have even taken over buildings such as shops or cinemas.

Wildlife officials are battling to bring the country's wild monkey population under control with ambitious sterilisation programs.

Earlier this month, rangers caught more than 400 crab-eating macaques to control their rising numbers in Phetchaburi province.

Officers said they also conducted random health checks on the monkeys to gather data for preventing zoonotic diseases.

The initiative comes after Phetchaburi Governor Nattachai Nampoonsuksan convened wildlife agencies and local officials in April to discuss the monkey overpopulation problem.