Nearly 1 million Thai children are not registered in formal education. Of these, 32.71% or 64,536 children are school dropouts who are registered in the civil registry in Tak province. One-third of these dropouts are children aged 6-11 years, or primary school-aged children.
“Umphang is a highland area, remote and home to ethnic communities with limitations in infrastructure and education. Children face issues such as poverty and a lack of readiness for education. The remoteness and difficult travel conditions result in children here missing out on educational opportunities, unable to continue their studies at the sub-district and district levels. Fortunately, there is the Hill Area Community Learning Centre (under Department of Learning Encouragement, formerly known as Department of Non-Formal Education), which allows primary school children to work with their parents while attending school,” Miss Patcharaporn Takoo, the administrator of the Chompa Weaving Learning Centre in Umphang District, Tak Province, discusses the factors affecting educational opportunities for children in Umphang.
Siriporn, 21, a sponsored child in World Vision Thailand’s Tak Project, adds, “My friends in the community who do not continue their studies will live the same way as their parents. At the age of 18-19, they will get married, have families, and children. The only jobs available in Umphang are farmers, growing rice and corn. Without knowledge, they will remain poor as before. Lack of education means no opportunity to improve their lives.”
Another factor affecting educational opportunities for children in Umphang District, Tak Province, is that “In the Hill Area Community Learning Centre, there are 2 teachers for 94 children. The teachers have to teach all grades from pre-school to Grade 6. Each grade requires teaching 6-8 subjects, including those mandated by the Department of Learning Encouragement, which are life skills and various vocational skills. In practice, the focus is only on Thai language and mathematics to ensure children have basic reading, writing, and numeracy skills as their foundation for learning other subjects,” says Mrs Patcharee Panasen, a teacher at the Ban Kui Klo Hill Area Community Learning Centre, Department of Learning Encouragement, Umphang District, Tak Province.
This is part of the brainstorming session from the launch and discussion meeting of the project to create a local collaboration network mechanism to increase educational opportunities for vulnerable groups, held at the meeting room of Umphang Wittayakom School in Tak Province. The project is a collaboration between the Office of the National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO) and World Vision Thailand. The initiative aims to integrate cooperation between the government, private sector, civil society, educational institutes, and local communities to jointly design mechanisms to support vulnerable youth in accessing education and social mobility effectively. The main focus of the project is to prevent and solve the problem of children dropping out of formal education.
Umphang District, Tak Province, will represent highland and remote areas, ethnic communities with limitations in infrastructure and education opportunities. The project will implement two policy models from research studies conducted under the ‘Policy Model Project to Promote Social Mobility for Grassroots Groups: Children and Youth’ during 2023-2024. The aim is to develop mechanisms and networks to address challenges that cause children to drop out of formal education, such as the lack of essential infrastructure for living and learning development, including teachers, internet access, learning materials, and difficult travel conditions.
- Project Model 1: Sustainable Volunteer Teachers – Increase the number of teachers in schools to adequately develop early childhood literacy and motivation for education, leading to a reduction in the number of children dropping out of formal education
- Project Model 2: Community College for Highland Areas – Provide children and youth in the area with more opportunities for further education. Besides staying in formal education, children will also gain vocational skills. This project will be implemented by fully leveraging local network cooperation.
“When children in Umphang finish Grade 6 and reach the age to continue to secondary school, most do not continue their studies due to lack of funds, inability to read, fear of falling behind their peers, and lack of enjoyment in learning. These children often decide to leave school to help their parents work at home. Increasing the number of teachers would greatly benefit the children, especially in teaching them to read and write. However, there are other challenging factors, such as difficult travel conditions, which would not be an issue for teachers who are local community members. The heavy workload due to the number of children, as well as the criteria for selecting and the qualifications of volunteer teachers, are also significant challenges,” Mrs Patcharee Panasen reflects on the challenges related to the sustainable volunteer teacher policy model.
Miss Patcharaporn Takoo discusses the policy model of the Community College for Highland Areas: “Personally, I work in the cloth weaving group. For children who lack educational opportunities, I believe that developing vocational skills for these children would be highly beneficial. In Umphang, which is predominantly a Karen community, girls often stay with their parents. Cloth weaving and dyeing allows children to support themselves, build upon their skills, and leverage the community’s traditional knowledge.”
Siriporn, as a representative of the children and youth network, wants all operations to be centred around children. “Activities must involve children and youth in decision-making. We propose having representatives of children and youth on the teacher selection committee. Volunteer teachers should undergo a probation period evaluated by the committee, and there should be transparency regarding fair wages for volunteer teachers, with direct payment to them. To reduce travel difficulties and cultural differences, and to increase job opportunities for children and youth in Umphang, we suggest considering children and youth in Umphang who have completed Grade 12 and have a bachelor’s degree, even if not in a related field, to be eligible to apply as volunteer teachers. The community college project is beneficial, as it can incorporate local wisdom, such as Karen weaving, into occupations. However, financial management education should also be included.”
Another suggestion from Mr Amorntep Srikanoksaichon, a member of the Ton Talay group in Umphang District, Tak Province, and a participant from civil society in the meeting, is: “All of the policy models are good. However, besides thinking about providing education for children, we should instil in them the preservation of ethnic ways of life and the appreciation of nature. In the past, we have seen many highly educated children who, after graduating, forget their way of life, do not value their ethnicity, and do not see the importance of nature. We do not want this mindset. Instead, we want them to think that when given the opportunity to study, they should return to develop their hometown. We want to see comprehensive development—people, villages, and nature. We must coexist and not develop one aspect at the expense of another.”
Because each area has its unique context, every voice and suggestion from the network will be used to develop and improve policy models into mechanisms that can address specific issues of the area. This will also engage all sectors of the community to collaborate in increasing educational opportunities for vulnerable groups in Umphang and also serve as a model to be extended to other areas in the future.
