ASEAN Education Center

Many of these children will go back to their home country as soon, as the parents have finished their job in Thailand. Here, most of the children may not go to school, because they do not have the Thai citizenship. While the parents are working on the construction sites or as maids, their children are left alone. That is why they wander around the streets and do not have anything to do. Therefore they are at high risk to get into contact with human traffickers. To help these children and get them away from the streets, the Day-Care-Center was set up. Here they are kept safe, get a nutritious meal and attend Thai, English and Math classes. Although they gain this education it will be very difficult for them to reenter the school in their home country as they are not able to learn the curriculum of their own countries in Thailand.
 
Because of that the new professional teachers will teach the migrant children lessons using the curriculum of Myanmar and Cambodia. As the children of both nationalities live close to each other also the Cambodian children will join the classes in Burmese and the Burmese children will join the classes in Cambodian. That will help to raise a feeling of belonging and let them not feel as competitor.
 
All this is only possible because of our great benefactors from the Rotary Clubs. In close cooperation with the Rotary Club Pijnacker-Nootdorp in the Netherlands, the Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard and the Rotary Club Dolphin Pattaya International in Thailand provide funding for the cost of teachers, education equipment, native language schoolbooks and library books and in addition a passenger van for the transportation of the children. Next to the organizations in the Netherlands and Thailand the project is also based on contributions from the De Vaan Goosen Foundation in the Netherlands.
All in all the total amount of the donation is expected to be at the size of 3.5 Million Baht.
Martin Brands, the Charter President of the Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard and Project Manager, led us through the day. He was joined by the President of the Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard, Rodney Charman and Peter Schönherr, the Director of the Local Community Service as well as Dr. Otmar Deter, Charter President, and Dr. Margret Deter, Secretary of the Rotary Club Dolphin Pattaya International. Thank you very much for your generous support and the time and effort you put into this project.
 
To cooperate with the Cambodian Government, a delegation, including Sdearng Tonghing, Von Vuthy, Tong Kean Ying from the Department of Education Youth and Sport Banteay Meanchey and Chav Rath, Eng Chanchum and In Sokleng from the Department of Social Affair Veterian and Youth Rehabilitation, came to join our meeting. They have already brought Cambodian schoolbooks which will be used in our lessons. Moreover, they promised to help us getting further learning supplies. Thank you very much, that you have accepted the long journey to support our work here. We appreciate this a lot.
 
Furthermore Naw Paw Ray and Naw Lei Htoo, the Committee Chair and a Senior Teacher of the Burmese Migrant Worker’s Education Committee came from the border to Myanmar to give us advice for our work, as they already have experience for many years with their project teaching migrant children from Myanmar. Additionally, they gave us their word to supply us with learning material and exams which will be certified by the Burmese Government and enable the children to reenter school at a certain grade in Myanmar.
 
After a delicious lunch at the Diana Garden Resort, the meetings continued with representatives of Pattaya City. Thank you to Khun Wannapa Wansri, Head of Education, Pattaya City, Khun Teeraporn Srichan, Director of Social Work and Welfare Division, Arun Ratsamee Boonkerd, Social Worker on Professional Level and Alvi Sinthuvanik, advisor, with whom we will continue our great work and cooperation. We are very grateful, that you have spent your precious time to listen to our concerns.
 
At the end of our successful and constructive conversations, we released our outcomes to the press. Thank you again to all of you, who support our project and hereby help to improve the lives of the migrant children in Pattaya.