Aung Kyi Oo was smiling saying that he only scored 390 on the mock-up
TOFEL test recently. "I have to work harder to get higher score next
time." The 19-year-old boy from Kaya ethnic group hopes that with a better
mark he would be able to continue his education further. "I want to help
my people."
Aung Kyi Oo is also preparing for
the GED (General Education Diploma) exam next June in Bangkok. Passing the
standard GED examination gives students the equivalent of a high-school diploma
from the formal education sector. If he passes the GED examination, he then can
compete for scholarships to study in local or overseas universities. Like many
other students before him, to take the examination he will have to arrange a
safe round-trip to Bangkok from this provincial town. It is not cheap - just
the examination alone cost US$600 or Bt24,000.
He is one of the 60 students from
a Learning Centre for Migrants operated in Mae Sot by the Education for
Friendship Foundation, formerly know as the Minmahaw Education Foundation - one
of the 74 centres spread throughout this provincial town at the Thai-Burmese
border. This centre, set up in 2007, is unique because it gives an
international standard of English education. Several thousands of young
students from undocumented Burmese migrant families and those residing in
refugee camps along the 2,400-kilometre border receive some forms of non-formal
education both in Burmese and English languages. These centres are operated and
funded by foreign donors and teaching volunteers. However, the Ministry of
Education oversees their overall programmes.
Of late, given the ongoing reform
inside Myanmar, these learning centres are urging the Ministry of Education to
administrate a Thai standard high school test in English, similar to the GED,
so that the students can continue their higher education within Thailand or
broader Asean. As Asean is moving towards a single community in 2015, many
students would benefit from such a standard test in English. These high school
students, albeit studying in make-shift class rooms and with inadequate
teaching aids, have attained a surprisingly high caliber of learning. Over the
year-long education schemes, they have gone through vigorous studies and
trainings similar to high school curriculums in American schools, taking up
subjects such as English language and arts, writing, reading, social studies,
science and mathematics. Depending on the personal skills of foreign
volunteers, who have come from around the world with myriads of experience, the
students receive extra tuition of skills and knowledge - sometimes on a
one-to-one basis.
Indeed, a visit to the learning
centre run by Education for Friendship Foundation revealed the high degree of
students' general knowledge and self-confidence. So much so that some of the
Thai families in the neighbourhood have asked the Foundation to include their
children in the programme because of the English education. It is not an
exaggeration to claim that these students have better English education than
normal Thai students. In normal circumstance, to receive an English education
such as this one but with a proper set-up and environment would cost parents
several hundred thousand baht a year. These students study for free. As part of
their community service standards, English language tutoring will soon be given
to the Thai children living near the learning centre. Several young graduates
of the centre have already been hired as English teachers at local Thai high
schools, following the Ministry of Education's new mandate to promote English
language as part of the preparation plan for the Asean Community.
That explains why these learning
centers want a standard test in English so that the students can further their
education without hindrance. The 60 students at the center of Education for
Friendship Foundation come from nearly all the large minority groups in
Myanmar, including Karen, Mon, Kachin, Kaya and Shan. Other learning centres
also share these similarities.
As the students are preparing for
an uncertain future outside their country, nearly four million migrant workers
continue their lives in Thailand. They also must prepare for the transitional
period coming in next few years. Both Thailand and Myanmar need to work out
coordinated policies and programmes to facilitate their returning to their
homelands or help those wanting to settle down in their adopted country. The
reason is simple: Thailand continues to need migrant workers for its
industries, especially in the fishing industry.
At the moment, Samutsakorn alone
has half a million Burmese migrant workers. They are spread out in nearly 4,000
factories, and this has generated the second highest provincial GDP in the
country after Rayong, with more than Bt160,000 per capita annually. For
instance, in 2010 the factories in Samutsakorn hired more than 150,000 Burmese
registered migrant workers, while only less than 350 Thai workers were willing
to do the same job. This discrepancy suggests that migrant workers are still
needed in the future because the Thai workers shun these manual labour jobs. In
a survey of 140,000 Burmese refugees in camps situated in Tak, Mae Hong Son and
Kanchanaburi along Thai-Myanmar border, 20 per cent wanted to stay in Thailand,
30 per cent wanted to return home while the rest wanted to be settled in the
third countries. The oversea resettlement option is becoming smaller in view of
the swift changes inside Myanmar.
As such, the Thai government
needs to come up with a comprehensive plan to prepare the refugee and migrant
workers and their children for a smooth transition if they choose to stay. One
of the several projects, which were approved during the Democrat-led
government, was to establish a special economic zone on both sides of the
border to ensure the continued economic growth so that workers would be
employed. But somehow the project was not given much attention under this
government. The other one is the ongoing three-year project to rehabilitate the
160-kimlometre road from Myawaddy opposite Mae Sot to Moulmien facing the
Andaman Sea. At the moment, the section toward Kawkariek remains a single lane,
which has slowed down the traffic. It normally takes nearly three weeks to
transport goods from Laem Chabang to Myanmar or India by sea through the
Straits of Malacca. If it is completed next year, the land transportation route
would shorten the current delivery timeframe from three days to a mere one day
from Mae Sot to Moulmien.
Suriya Prasatbunnittya, governor
of Tak province, told the author over the weekend that Mae Sot is currently the
gateway to Myanmar, and more investment on infrastructure should be forthcoming
from the Thai government. He argued that while the Dawei Deep Seaport sounds
good in the long run, the Thai economy would benefit more from Mae Sot-Moulmien
route for the next ten years. "We should not wait for the Dawei project to
become a reality. We must do what we can now to build and use the existing
facilities," he reiterated. Land price in Mae Sot has increased steadily
in the past years since the reform pledges last March by the Thein Sein
government.
As Myanmar receives a lot of
attention from all over the world, the refugees, migrant workers and their
families must not be left out. One of the best way to prepare them for the new
Myanmar is to make sure the young generation of students inside Thailand at
this moment receive their education without disruption and be given proper
recognition so that they can become creative forces in their own society or in
their adopted one.
Kavi Chongkittavorn
Business & Investment Opportunities
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