Education has been proven to be the most effective means of permanently addressing poverty in the future of any community.

 

There has been a flow of refugees from eastern Burma into Thailand for more than 20 years - families who have been displaced from their villages and fled for their lives through the mountainous jungle. They arrive at the Thai border with nothing. Many choose to live in one of the nine refugees camps established close to the border within Thailand, others to just take their chances living as illegal migrants within Thailand. There are currently approximately 150,000 people living in the refugee camps and untold numbers struggling to exist unnoticed within Thai society where they daily face the threat of arrest and being forcibly returned to Burma.

 

On average, 30% of the refugee camp population are school age children, with education being provided by NGO's like Effective Aid International.

 

Effective Aid International’s education program in the camps started when the Noah Group School originally opened in the Mae Khong Kha Refugee Camp in June 2003 with an enrolment of 160 students from Kindergarten through to grade 4.

 

Late 2003 saw the whole camp of 18,000 people being relocated to a new location and Maela Oon Refugee Camp established high in the mountains of western Thailand. The school was rebuilt and extended through to grade 7 to cater to almost 500 students.

 

Student numbers for the 2008-2009 school year are almost 600, from kindergarten to grade 10. Included in this number are 130 full time boarders who are either orphans or the children of internally displaced people within Karen State, Burma. These children have come from areas where there is no access to education.

 

This school is impacting the future of these families people by providing their children with the education necessary, while they wait for peace to return to their homeland.

 

The second school run by Effective Aid International is situated in Maela Refugee Camp, 70 km north of the busy Thai border town of Maesot. This is the largest and oldest of the camps, with a population of approximately 50,000.

 

Originally two schools, Maela No 6 School and Maela Senior School, for the 2008-2009 school year these have been amalgamated into one school catering from Kindergarten through to Grade 12.

 

Enrolment is currently almost 500 with dormitories providing accommodation to 100 students who are either orphans, or whose families still live within Burma.

 

All our teachers and staff at these schools are sourced from within the refugee population, with many having university education. Employment is provided for more than 120 people through our work in education in the refugee camps.

 

We are constantly resourcing these schools and providing in-service training to our teaching staff. Recent additions have included a computer training room and science laboratory. There is also modern audio-visual equipment being installed in our school in Maela Camp.

 

Hope is being restored to people's lives and children prepared for their future. There are few of these families that do not have a story of heartache and loss, but they remain resilient and looking towards a better tomorrow.

 

To donate into Effective Aid International’s education projects for Burmese Refugees click here.