An 11-year-old Thai boy, Anirut Thongdech, also known as Saming, has been given the opportunity to return to school after being forced to leave when his family could no longer afford his education.

 

Saming’s family struggled financially due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused his parents to become unemployed and resort to collecting recyclables for a living. Wat Trangkhapum Putthawat Municipal School, near the temple where Saming’s family found shelter, stepped in to help by providing him with uniforms, stationery, and textbooks.

 

The school’s director, Kalasit Petkong, revealed that many children have had to abandon their education due to the financial struggles brought on by the pandemic. Wat Trangkhapum Putthawat Municipal School itself has 97 students, 60–70% of which come from broken homes where parents earn meagre incomes. To support such families, the school has offered employment opportunities, such as cultivating vegetables on unused land or providing funds to cover educational expenses.

 

Unicef Thailand recently highlighted a study on youths “not in education, employment or training (Neet)”, which found that 70% of students who drop out have no plans for furthering their education. Data from the Equitable Education Fund (EEF) additionally reveal that over 800,000 of Thailand’s 7 million public and private school students come from very poor families. This puts them at risk of dropping out of school.

 

by Mitch Connor

TOP PHOTO: Unsplash/Mario Heller

 

Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/national/thai-school-aids-11-year-olds-return-amid-pandemic-driven-dropout-crisis

 

-- © Copyright Thaiger 2023-06-19

 

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It is about time that the Thai governments stopped the school uniform fiasco.

Many families struggle to finance the so called 'free education' system.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The school’s director, Kalasit Petkong, revealed that many children have had to abandon their education due to the financial struggles brought on by the pandemic. Wat Trangkhapum Putthawat Municipal School itself has 97 students, 60–70% of which come from broken homes where parents earn meagre incomes. To support such families, the school has offered employment opportunities, such as cultivating vegetables on unused land or providing funds to cover educational expenses.

While the elite sit on their billions and the Junta live in their palaces.

As mr Prayuth and his cronies always shout, free education for every kid.. But how can this happen than?? So much money spend on education and can't keep this kid school?? What happened with all the money? Big cars for leaders , and organizations, waste of trips, meetings and so, under paid teachers with long working hours, and poor people have to more for several more things... to enrich the rich more and where is the free education than? In several schools they even have to pay for a poor lunch for kids and all kind extras as every year a different sport outfit.