Thai Formal school
Thailand has a long history of hosting migrants and refugees from neighboring countries as they flee conflict and economic difficulties. Over the past decade alone, hundreds of thousands of migrant children have accompanied their parents. The children of migrant workers in Thailand are entitled to an education in Thailand since the 1999 adoption of “Education for All (EFA) policy and the 2005 cabinet’s resolution. Thai law stipulates that “All children, regardless of their nationalities or legal status, have the right to 15 years of free basic education.”
The EFA policy allows non-Thai children to attend public schools for free from preschool until high school. The education ministry gives a per-student fund equal to the amount allocated to each Thai student to public schools. The policy looks good in principle but has been hit with problems.
There is a special quota known as the G-Code system to support migrant and stateless students to access education in Thai school. Only 34% of migrant and stateless students attend Thai schools under G-code system and only 5% can access learning centers in their communities. Providing education for all is still not enough. Education must also fit students’ needs and align with cultural diversity. The ministry must design courses in bilingual education and multicultural education and teachers trained accordingly. Enforcing nationalism and a central government-dictated curriculum must come to an end. There are challenges such as obstacles, ethnic discrimination, or the tardiness of bureaucracy.
Source : Bangkok post
Non-formal Education
Non-Formal Education in Thailand. Non-Formal Education in Thailand plays important roles for the out of school youth and adults. ONFEC has undertaken two types of education: Non-Formal Education and Informal Education. These two types are in congruent. The Education Act of B.E. 2542 (1999)4 defined these two types of education as follows:
Non-formal education shall have flexibility in determining the aims, modalities, management procedures, duration, assessment and evaluation conditional to its completion. The contents and curricula for non-formal education shall be appropriate, respond to the requirements, and meet the needs of individual groups of learners.
Informal education shall enable learners to learn by themselves according to their interests, potentialities, readiness and opportunities available from persons, society, environment, media, or other sources of knowledge. Educational institutions are authorized to provide any one or all of the three types of education.
Migrant Learning Center (MLC)
MLC is one of the alternative education programs for migrant children. There are 46 MLCs in Mae Sot district. Many MLCs provide education from kindergarten to higher secondary levels.
General Educational Development (GED)
GED is also an alternative education for students. who are not enrolled in high school level. Migrant or refugee students age at least 16 years old and want to pursue higher education in Thailand or abroad can take the GED course to get a diploma. The GED covers four main areas:
- Mathematical Reasoning
- Reasoning Through Language Arts
- Science
- Social Studies
Students enrolling in the GED course are required to do the Ready Test to measure their level of understanding on the abovementioned areas. The Ready Test costs approximately 7 USD per subject (28 USD in total) and it will take around 45 – 60 minutes. Students completed and passed the Ready Test need to learn the four subjects before taking the GED examination. The GED examination costs around 80 USD per subject (320 USD in total). Students passing the exam will receive a high school diploma to pursue their higher education.
Currently, Minmahaw, Hsa Thoo Lay, New Blood, CDC, and K-GED are teaching GED courses for migrant and new arrival children. For example, Minmahaw school provides a free one-year GED intensive program for 24 students prior to taking the GED exam. Some schools have special conditions for students attending the GED course, such as students applying for the resettlement program cannot attend the course. The schools that have GED programs are as below and for more information of schools, you can contact to Burmese Migrant Teachers’ Association {BMTA), Ma Mi Nway Ph- 063 480 2909.
- Min Ma Haw School
- BMWEC (Burmese Migrant Worker Education Committee)
- Thoo Mwah Khee Learning Center
- New Blood Hight School
- Mae Sot School
- Thabyay GED Test Center
- Mueang tak District
- The Inclusive Education Foundation
- CDC School
- MECC
- Parami Learning Centere
- BHSOH Learning Center ( Pre GED)
