Published on October 25, 2005

When she was only in grade six, Apinya (not her real name), now 15, was raped by her elder cousin and didn’t realise until the following year that she was pregnant.

While her cousin was relatively unaffected by the discovery, Apinya was driven from her school and would have been forced to stop her education at that point, had she not found a school that welcomes students shunned by others.

Nongchumseang Wittaya School in Ta Yang district of Phetchaburi province has created a project called “NWS For Another Chance.”

It offered Apinya a chance to finish high school and to enjoy a full range of life’s choices, rather than becoming a premature mother with low educational attainment and a dismal future. Apinya is an ordinary, unremarkable case among hundreds of others who have been admitted to the school over the past four years. Take the case of Rose, 19:

“When I was pressured to quit my former high school, l felt like a loser,” she said. “I wanted everyone to know that I wasn’t a troublemaker, I just accidentally made a slip. I still wanted to go to school.”

Rose had to leave grade 11 in mid-semester. It followed an occasion on which a familiar boy tricked her into riding to his house on the back of his motorcycle, where he forced her to have sex.

Rose’s parents demanded compensation from the boy’s parents, so the pair of them, both students, began living as man and wife. But when Rose’s school learned of the arrangement, she was forced to quit.

“More than 10 girls in my village had faced similar situations,” she said. “They suggested that I come to Nongchumseang.”

Rose will finish her final high-school exam this week. She hopes to enter university and dreams of studying communication arts.

Nongchumseang Wittaya School’s headmaster, Maitree Srisakulthai, said he initiated the project after he found that up to 20 per cent of students in several other schools had been unable to finish high school because of a range of problems. As a result, many of them formed gangs and some became criminals.

“If every school around the country expelled 20 per cent of students, there would be a large number of troublesome teenagers to create social problems,” he said. “Giving them an education gives them better lives.”

The project began with six students living as three couples in premature partnerships. Two of the girls were pregnant. Today, the programme has more than 600 students from almost every part of the country.

Maitree said the special programme students are separated from the 900 ordinary students at the school. They are able to transfer credits from their former schools to continue studies without any need to repeat subjects.

The students mostly learn by themselves at home and attend the school only for examinations. However, some special classes are set for tutoring complicated subjects such as mathematics, science and computers.

“At first, we were concerned that our ordinary students might want to transfer to the special programme because it doesn’t require students to attend class every day. But it had the opposite effect. We have found that our ordinary students conduct themselves better because they don’t want to get into the programme,” Maitree said. “It is like an example, warning ordinary students what will happen if they are careless.”

Vilaiporn Dumsa-ard, a teacher overseeing the project, said her students were forced to leave their former schools because of misbehaviour, drug use, fighting, family problems and premature sex. Most of girls applying for the programme had backgrounds of premature sex or had been raped.

“I can say girls in the 12 to 15 years old age group are worrisome because many of them, especially those in rural areas, are found being lured into premature sex or are being raped,” she said.

The mother of one pregnant girl said she was glad when she learnt that her daughter could continue her studies despite her condition. She had been forced out of school with only one semester to go.

“When my daughter was able to get a second chance after making one slip, it makes a parent’s heart so hopeful,” she said.

She said similar programmes should be provided in more schools, so that students from distant provinces would not have to make the long journey to Nongchumseang School.

Film, 15, makes round-trip bus trips between Bangkok and Phetchaburi.

“I spend about Bt2,000 each time I come to school,” he said. “However, I can stand it because if I pass the exam this week, I will be able to return to school in Bangkok for my grade 10 studies.”

Film left grade 7 at his Bangkok school when, after being sick and missing a final exam, the school demanded that he repeat the level. He was too proud to join a class with younger students, so he opted for Nongchumseang School and Bt2,000 bus fares for every visit.

Chatrarat Kaewmorakot

The Nation

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