Thai education for stateless children

Education Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said yesterday that a recent ministerial meeting was told there were some 100,000 stateless children in Thailand and about half were already studying in the Thai educational system.

The rest, however, had parents who moved from one place to another for jobs and the children hence studied at educational centres established by foreigners. As they mainly used their mother tongue, they had not learned Thai, which might lead to problems in living together with Thai people in future, he said.

The Education Ministry discussed with national security agencies on how to include these children into the Thai educational system with Thai curriculum, Jurin said. The idea of inclusion was to have these children learn the Thai language, to love and feel bonded with Thailand, which would be help in future co-existence, he added.

The initial guideline was to ask these centres to register with the ministry so as to be come under the Private School Act, he said.

The Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) would lead the drafting of ministerial regulations to supervise these centres and the policy would also provide educational rights equivalent to Thais so as to not to create the feeling of alienation.

The meeting also discussed about the education provided to rural children in "suksa songkhro" schools and agreed to ask for a budget of Bt1.1 billion in fiscal year 2010.

Meanwhile, it would consult the Bureau of Budget to get some money in advance to pay for meals and accommodation for children whose homes were far away, such as the marginal kids. It would also discuss payment for overtime work to teachers who had to take care of these kids after class.

The "suksa songkhro" were schools the government had set up to support underprivileged children, such as those living in far and rural areas and orphans of both parents, who had no opportunity to study at normal schools.

The schools allowed most students to stay in the boarding school system while only a small number went back and forth between the school and home. There are 24 "suksa songkhro" schools in Thailand.

////////