Phayam Island children’s struggle to school spurs calls for new bridge

[webfact]

 

Children in Phayam Island in the Ranong province have been struggling to reach their schools due to the lack of a bridge. An online post appealing for help has sparked a call for government intervention, suggesting that before the economic bridge is built, these children need assistance.

 

Monsoongarbage Thailand a Facebook page, shared the plight of the schoolchildren.

 

“Can we gift them a bridge for Children’s Day? Can we pay attention to this issue? When the tide rises, they have to ride a boat to school, but when the tide falls, they need to wade through water to return home because boats cannot operate.”

The post also urged the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources to build a bridge for these children to cross over to their school before considering constructing a land bridge or an economic bridge project connecting Ranong and Chumphon provinces for foreign investors.

 

by Nattapong Westwood 

PHOTO: via India Today

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2024-01-13

 

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[flyingtlger]

These kids think they have it rough?

 

When I was kid, I'd walk in the snow, uphill in the snow for 20 miles and do the same going home...

 

Edited January 12 by flyingtlger

[Crossy]

My wife used to have a 2km walk to the nearest bridge to get to school.

 

But if she was good, she was allowed (with a couple of friends) to ride across the river standing on the back of the water-buffalo. Send the buffalo home after it delivered the kids safely.

 

[chuang]

What is wrong with you...

[gomangosteen]

The photo used in this article is not from Ranong, clearly not Thai school uniforms. 

 

Bemused as to what gets presented as news/fact.

 

The genuine photos are available on the Monsoon Garbage site. I'll add them in a separate post.

 

A simple check revealed:

 

It is a photo from India, 27 August 2022, in Madhya Pradesh where school children can be clearly seen getting into a river to reach school due to the absence of a bridge. (screenshot from video)

Source: India Today

Edited January 13 by gomangosteen

[gomangosteen]

The real photos.

 

From Monsoon Garbage Facebook page, and overnight it's had a lot of Thai media coverage, maybe this will prompt some action to resolve the problem.

 

 

Edited January 13 by gomangosteen

[JoePai]

Remind me - it is Children's day today ?

[retarius]

I went for  holiday there once....no cars, narrow concrete tracks, and precious little electricity...the whole Island is solar powered. Fantastic beach and good food at reasonable prices. Accomodation was expensive. 

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, gomangosteen said:

The photo used in this article is not from Ranong, clearly not Thai school uniforms. 

As they say in Newsrooms the world over "Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story".

In this case, I believe that the truth is even more sad.

 

But hey - engine less submarines are more important than the young of today and their education - Yes?

[JeffersLos]

 

Hopefully, one day, humans will invent boats. 

[retarius]

7 minutes ago, JeffersLos said:

 

Hopefully, one day, humans will invent boats. 

Wonderful pithy comment. Thank you for the smile it brought to my lips.

[brianthainess]

4 hours ago, gomangosteen said:

The photo used in this article is not from Ranong, clearly not Thai school uniforms. 

 

Bemused as to what gets presented as news/fact.

 

The genuine photos are available on the Monsoon Garbage site. I'll add them in a separate post.

 

A simple check revealed:

 

It is a photo from India, 27 August 2022, in Madhya Pradesh where school children can be clearly seen getting into a river to reach school due to the absence of a bridge. (screenshot from video)

Source: India Today

Why do Webfact never check their story sources from Thaiger and then threaten us that we break the community rules if we dare criticize.? 

[brianthainess]

What happened to the bridge did it not get finished or did it fall down?  the concrete structure still looks ok. 

Do the army not have floating bridges, or Ducks ? meanwhile vehicles lay idle for children's day.

 

 

 

[edwinchester]

5 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

What happened to the bridge did it not get finished or did it fall down?  the concrete structure still looks ok. 

Do the army not have floating bridges, or Ducks ? meanwhile vehicles lay idle for children's day.

 

 

 

Looks very much much like a bridge was started but then for some reason construction was stopped. I'd wager the project ran out of money.

[brianthainess]

1 minute ago, edwinchester said:

Looks very much much like a bridge was started but then for some reason construction was stopped. I'd wager the project ran out of money.

Or embezzled, guess it's a state secret  following the money trail will never happen TIT.

There seems to be no investigating reporters in Thailand, should get one of the TV stations to go there.

[bendejo]

1 hour ago, retarius said:

I went for  holiday there once....no cars, narrow concrete tracks, and precious little electricity...the whole Island is solar powered. Fantastic beach and good food at reasonable prices. Accomodation was expensive. 

 

The tsunami brought it a lot of attention, like cover stories in European magazines.  Within a year it went from quiet, remote beach stay to a place where reggae echoes through trees at night.  No solar back then, shacks on the beach were bare and cheap.

 

[KhunLA]

2 hours ago, retarius said:

I went for  holiday there once....no cars, narrow concrete tracks, and precious little electricity...the whole Island is solar powered. Fantastic beach and good food at reasonable prices. Accomodation was expensive. 

Solar now ... 👍

When I was there, only 1 resort on the 1 bay, and he had a diesel genny, the got shut down at night time.  One of the best weeks I had in TH on holiday.   Owner picked us up (during supply run), and returned us to Ranong, no ferry ride.   Food (excellent) & beer cheap.   Evening skinny dips w/fluorescents in the water, way too cool.  Big A$$ crabs everywhere, sea eagles overheard ... pure Bliss.

 

I think there are like 10 resorts on the bay now 

 

[KhunLA]

edit: Concede, (reported on Ch 23) might be real, but really poor journalism, why I don't bother reading Thaiger.

Edited January 13 by KhunLA

[LosLobo]

4 hours ago, gomangosteen said:

The photo used in this article is not from Ranong, clearly not Thai school uniforms. 

 

Bemused as to what gets presented as news/fact.

Yet the OP clearly gives the photo credit to India Today, for anyone who cares to read it.

[Nick Carter icp]

3 minutes ago, LosLobo said:

Yet the OP clearly gives the photo credit to India Today, for anyone who cares to read it.

 

   Although it does say that the photo came from India today , it doesn't say that they are Indian Children in India .

   One would think that India today published the photos of the Thai kids in question 

[mikebike]

The image used correctly portrayed the problem being written about. It was correctly credited. It is quite possible the the actual pics from social media were not made available to the publisher. 

 

Why all the fake outrage? 

[Nick Carter icp]

2 minutes ago, mikebike said:

The image used correctly portrayed the problem being written about. It was correctly credited. It is quite possible the the actual pics from social media were not made available to the publisher. 

 

Why all the fake outrage? 

 

   No one is outraged , but you would at least expect a news story to have photos of the news story in question , rather than just random photos of something connected to the story .

   Anyone would think that the published  photo is of the children in question .

Like, Biden won the American elections, here's a photo of Trump winning the elections 

[metisdead]

8 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Why do Webfact never check their story sources from Thaiger and then threaten us that we break the community rules if we dare criticize.? 

 

Because of this Forum Rule:

 

17. The ASEAN NOW news team gathers and disseminates news bulletins from Thai and international sources, and republishes them in the news forums for our members' information and enjoyment. Our news team works hard to bring quality content to the news forums and should be respected for their efforts. Comments regarding ASEAN NOW being the source of news articles or other comments such as "slow news day" or "clickbait headline" are disrespectful and unwelcome. Such comments will be sanctioned. Original articles, especially in the Thai or foreign language press can sometimes have grammatical mistakes or misspellings. ASEAN NOW is not responsible for these nor does ASEAN NOW have the right to alter content it is reprinting from another source. Similarly, ASEAN NOW is not responsible for any opinions reflected or quoted in reprinted news stories.

[gomangosteen]

39 minutes ago, LosLobo said:

Yet the OP clearly gives the photo credit to India Today, for anyone who cares to read it.

Agree.

 

In future I will get all my local Thailand news accompanied by relevant Indian photos from India Today rather than reading my usual Thai language news sites.

[Nick Carter icp]

8 minutes ago, gomangosteen said:

Agree.

 

In future I will get all my local Thailand news accompanied by relevant Indian photos from India Today rather than reading my usual Thai language news sites.

For example :

 

News story 

   

Thai food voted the best and tastiest food in the World and Pad Thai as the Number 1 dish .

 

Some tasty  food from India 

 

 

[mikebike]

52 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   No one is outraged , but you would at least expect a news story to have photos of the news story in question , rather than just random photos of something connected to the story .

   Anyone would think that the published  photo is of the children in question .

Like, Biden won the American elections, here's a photo of Trump winning the elections 

You have never worked in the news industry have you. 

 

I'll give you a task. Go to your favourite news source and do the easier job, count how many images ARE NOT stock photos or credited related images. 

[LosLobo]

11 minutes ago, gomangosteen said:

Agree.

 

In future I will get all my local Thailand news accompanied by relevant Indian photos from India Today rather than reading my usual Thai language news sites.

I understand your commitment to your original post.

There may be good reasons why the reporter did not use the photographs from Monsoon Garbage Facebook, possibly there may have been difficultly getting permission from the individual posters.

Journalists often use representative stock photographs like Getty Images for their articles, in this case they used India Today.

 

From my point of view, logic would suggest a photo with a credit to India Today, would obviously not be a genuine one of a local event on Koh Phayam, in Ranong Thailand.

[KhunLA]

23 minutes ago, mikebike said:

You have never worked in the news industry have you. 

 

I'll give you a task. Go to your favourite news source and do the easier job, count how many images ARE NOT stock photos or credited related images. 

They wouldn't be a 'news source', as most entertainment news sources today are not, and hard to call them news at all.   Simply propaganda (BS) machines or Op-eds to be kind.

 

But news, no ... not my definition of.   Maybe that word's definition has been official changed also.

[Mavideol]

3 hours ago, brianthainess said:

What happened to the bridge did it not get finished or did it fall down?  the concrete structure still looks ok. 

Do the army not have floating bridges, or Ducks ? meanwhile vehicles lay idle for children's day.

 

 

 

the army spend the money on the Chinese submarines without engine  555

[LosLobo]

25 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

the army spend the money on the Chinese submarines without engine  555

I used to live on a mountain durian farm in Ranong, a province with the highest rainfall in Thailand.

 

Once the kids had crossed the flooded bridge over the flooded river on the way to school, they would find the school under three metres of water and have to return home for a few days while the waters subsided, and the mess was cleaned up.

 

One day a politician showed up and to increase his chances in the next election promised to resolve the problem, though he claimed he had limited funding.

 

This was the same one who years before committed billions to spend on submarines because he claimed the money would only be wasted elsewhere.

 

Not sure if he thought the submarines would be useful to help kids get to school.

 

Let's hope for the kids and country's sake things will change.