Burmese migrant schools increasing

HAPPY WEEKEND
Gina P. Dizon

THAILAND -- There is more than enough reason for Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo venting his concern over democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention and exclusion from Burma’s upcoming 2010 elections.

It’s not only the Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who is unreasonably punished by the Burmese junta. Continued persecution from the Burmese junta must have meant more Burmese fleeing to adjoining Thailand-Burma border along Tak province to feel secure.

Harsh conditions in Burma must have meant the increase of migrant schools at the Thai-Burma border in Tak province aside from schools established in refugee camps.

There are now 61 officially listed migrant learning centers (MLCs) with nearly 11,000 migrant students enrolled from 1999 to 2009, records from the Migrant Educational Coordination Centre- Tak Education Service Area 2 reveals.

Based on a baseline publication produced by MECC-Tak ESA 2 with the support of Health Education and Literacy Project (HELP), a significant increase of migrant schools was noted from 2003 till 2009. A sudden increase of 39 MLCs was noted in 2000 till it reached 62 MLCs in year 2009. A sharp increase of enrollment was noted in year 2002 with nearly 2000 pupils having steadily increased through the years till it reached the current 10,833 students.

Of the total 61 migrant schools in Tak province, 46 are located in Maesot with 8,444 students; 11 in Phoprah with 2,033 students; and 3 in Mae Ramat with 299 pupils. About 82% of the MLCS are supported by umbrella organizations including Burmese Migrant Workers Education Committee (BMWEC), Help without Frontiers (HWF) and Good Friends Centre (GFC).

For the 61 officially listed migrant learning centres, 46 are found in Maesot, 11 in Pho Prah, 3 in Mae Ramat, and one in Tha Song Yang.

It is interesting to note that Burmans and the ethnic Karens registered the highest number of students which steadily increased from 1999 to 2009. The other ethnic peoples- Mons, Kachins, Arakans - remain to be consistent in their enrollment with a slight increase among the Arakans numbering around 800. Karens and Burmans have nearly the same students each numbering around 4,000.

A survey of the 61 migrant schools was made possible by the efforts of Dr Alicia Manondog, Voluntary Service Overseas-Thailand/Burma (VSO) Volunteer from Philippines who served as Liaison Officer of MECC-Tak Education Service Area 2 from 2008 to early 2010.

Through Dr Manondog’s support, the migrant schools’ management staff and teachers were afforded management-based trainings.

The MECC- ESA was established in May 2008 to link activities related to migrant education in furtherance to Cabinet Resolution 5 which provides Education for All (EFA). This further gained legislation in 2009 with another draft resolution providing guidelines to provide equal access to education for all children in Thailand regardless of status, ethnicity or gender.

MECC provides capacity building support to administration and staff of MLCs who in most cases are under- skilled.

Based from the survey, only 34% of the MLC teachers have Bachelor’s degrees, while a third are high school graduates. Sixty two percent (62%) of the Burmese teachers lack appropriate degrees in education.

With MOE-MECC’s program on inclusion of migrant schools within the Thai educational curriculum, migrant school students are accepted in mainstream Thai schools. Migrant schools are also encouraged to change status from informal learning centers to private schools thus leading to the accreditation of children’s’ attendance in MLCs to higher levels of learning. To qualify under MOE’s accreditation program for MLCs, management staff and teachers possess certain requirements, one of which is possession of Bachelor’s degrees among the teachers and management skills among those in-charge.

Trainings on management and school administration was given for MLC heads and teachers by MECC-ESAU –Tak . With the support of VSO Volunteer Manondog, lesson plans and teaching materials were produced and funded by Heart for Asia and distributed to MLCS during re-echo trainings.

Teaching of the Thai language is also provided to Burmese teachers including advocacy on children’s rights.