The last weeks of school year 2018-2019 were an intense period for both migrant children and teachers in learning centres in Mae Sot and surroundings.
Migrant children enrolling in learning centres in Thailand can chose to study the curriculum approved by the Myanmar Ministry of Education without possibility of accreditation. In the learning centres overseen by Help without Frontiers, a total of 1,152 migrant children took final exams and 100% of them passed with positive grades.
Migrant children and youth can also choose to access educational opportunities whose certificates are officially recognised by either the Thai or the Myanmar Ministries of Education.
In school year 2018-2019, a total of 71 children chose to attend Non-Formal Education (Koh Soh Noh), divided into Levels 1 and 2, respectively corresponding to Grades 2 and 4 of a public Thai school.
Opportunities for recognised education in the Myanmar formal education system are many and varied.
As a result of informal agreement with the educational authorities of Myawaddy, the first city of Myanmar on the other side of the border, migrant children can sit down for the same final exams of Grades 4 and 8 that are held inside the country and whose results are recognised by the Myanmar Ministry of Education. In school year 2018-2019, 109 children took Grade 4 Board Exam while other 53 children sat down for Grade 8 Board Exam.
In addition, Help without Frontiers facilitates the organisation of final exams of Burmese children attending Non-Formal Primary Education (NFPE) in all learning centres across Tak Province. At the end of March 2019, NFPE final exams took place in Mae Sot Technical College and in KM48 Learning Centre in Phop Phra. A total of 541 migrant children sat down for the exam of Levels 1 and 2, respectively equivalent to Grades 2 and 4 in the public schools inside the country.
Year 2019 also marks the ending of the three-year pilot project known as Non-Formal Middle Education (NFME), a natural continuation of NFPE to allow children to obtain recognised education until junior high school inside Myanmar public schools. In the course of the pilot project, a total of 22 students enrolled in the NFME class in Sauch Kha Hong Sar Learning Centre. The program registered only 1% drop-out rate so that 20 students were able to sit down for final exam in May 2019. For school year 2019-2020, Help without Frontiers is committed to continuing such unique program in order to expand opportunities for recognised quality migrant education.
All the exams taken within recognised alternative pathways to education are corrected by the educational authorities of Thailand and Myanmar and results will be communicated in the next months. We are looking forward to receiving their feedback and to knowing the passing rate of our bright migrant students. As a matter of fact, in previous years, migrant children in Mae Sot obtained excellent scores in final exams, sometimes scoring better than children inside Myanmar.
In the meantime, schools have reopened their doors to welcome migrant children and start another school year. As registration are open until the end of June, we still not have accurate information but teachers are expecting 3,023 migrant children and youth.
