Migrant Children Need More Support: Chalk Talk

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CHALK TALK

Migrant children need more support

JIDAPA MEEPIEN

Thailand Development Research Institute

BANGKOK: -- As a major destination country of international migration, Thailand nowadays hosts around 2.5 million migrant workers, including regular and irregular migrants.

According to the International Organisation of Migration, these migrants include an estimated 300,000 children. Most migrants in Thailand are undocumented, and this applies to the children, as well as their parents.

These children lack opportunities to access social services, and most of them are vulnerable to child labour, trafficking, abuse and exploitation. In such conditions, education is seen as the most effective mechanism to help decrease their vulnerability.

According to Premjai Vungsiriphisal, who runs an education service for migrant children, this situation is not new but has always been a challenge for Thai society.

In 1992, the Royal Thai Government introduced its first policy allowing migrant children to study in public schools. Later on, the policy was integrated as part of the National Education Act BE 2542 (1999).

In the aforementioned period, however, the beneficiaries were mostly documented migrant children. The situation came to an end in 2005 when the government implemented a Cabinet resolution, the so-called "education for all" resolution.

Under the provisions of the resolution, undocumented migrant children are allowed to receive any education services available to Thai children and documented children. The implementation not only broadens the education opportunities for the undocumented children, it also brings about many education schemes for migrant children in Thailand. Many schemes including formal and informal education have been developed and provided for migrant children, to improve their quality of life.

However, the major constraint was found to be accessibility. Academics say that despite many types of education services being developed both formally and informally, only a |small number of migrant children can access them.

Many studies point out that the reason for this inaccessibility is poverty. Poverty in the |origin country is a "push factor" forcing these migrants to enter Thailand because many of them expect to find better opportunities here. In reality, however, things sometimes end up worse for migrants than when they started out, with migrants remaining in poverty even after entering Thailand. This is due to the fact that many migrants are paid less than the minimum wage income earned by Thai workers. As a result, some migrant parents cannot send their children to school or learning centres because they cannot afford the education fees.

In the worst cases, some migrant children need to drop out from the schools/learning centres and enter into the labour market, to increase the income of their family. Additionally, the accessibility of education services sometimes involved location.

Unlike migrant families working in the manufacturing sector, those working in the agricultural sector normally live in remote areas that lack opportunities to access social services.

In the short term, the challenge facing the government is to increase the number of migrant children receiving both formal and informal education. The easiest way to increase the number of migrant children receiving and attending education services is to increase the number of local schools and learning centres, especially in the remote areas. This may help increase the number of migrant children attending local schools and learning, but it is not sustainable.

As previously mentioned, poverty is the major constraint - one the government cannot ignore. The government may consider supporting the expenses incurred by educating children - including tuition fees, transportation fees, textbooks, uniforms, food and others - in order to relieve the expenses of the migrant households. Besides this, the government needs to raise awareness among migrant parents regarding the education of their children. It is necessary to point out the positive impact of education on children.

The government needs to show parents that education is important for their children not only because it improves their well-being, but also to secure better opportunities for their future. Thailand cannot close its eyes to education services for these migrant children, not only because it is a service that Thailand should provide to migrant children as a host country, but because it is a basic right of all children, regardless of nationality or legal status.

JIDAPA MEEPIEN

Thailand Development Research Institute

-- The Nation 2012-10-22

[pogal]

Its nice to see that Thailand has recognized the problems and is trying to deal with it (albeit in their own way).