Student Group Traveling Overseas - Question?

[Stradavarius37]

My son is in Grade 4 of an international school in Bangkok. The school is organizing a trip for students to go to a summer camp in Canada (Vancouver) that will currently have 16 students accompanied by 2 school staff (not teachers, staff) and 2 parents.

To me - this trip is raising serious concerns. Certainly I feel 9 years old is too young to travel halfway around the world without parental supervision, but I was wondering if there was anything from the Ministry of Education side where this might not actually be legal. One of my colleagues was for years a BKK based international school teacher and thought that there was a Ministry of Education age minimum for this type of activity.

Does anyone have any insight? My child isn't going but the rest of the parents don't seem to concerned). Is it just me?

[thesetat2013]

Yeah... I can give you some insight. First! Who booked the trip using what agency. Most likely it was through a family member or a teacher at the school so the money goes back to them. Second! If you do allow your child to go? What school will represent them in Canada? Don't trust that they will provide a hotel for them. I have heard horror stories about trips to the USA where the kids ended up sleeping in the gym on the floor in the school. Confirm everything personally inside Canada before considering letting your kid go. Third! This is probably a school sponsored trip. So don't expect any answers from the MOE. Fourth! Why don't you go with them if you can not confirm anything? Thais are not especially known as being responsible and they surely are known for milking money on the sly. My last school went on a trip to Singapore! They barely got fed and it wasn't decent meals. Their hotels were crappier than here in Thailand, and their tours were geared to get the kids to spend money in gifts. This trip was given at a prominent Catholic school in Thailand. You decide! It's your kid. But if you don't know and verify every detail. I wouldn't take a chance

[Stradavarius37]

If you read carefully, you would have read that my child is not going on the trip. My real question is - is there age restrictions on school activities that involve students traveling abroad.

[ldiablo]

Yeah... I can give you some insight. First! Who booked the trip using what agency. Most likely it was through a family member or a teacher at the school so the money goes back to them. Second! If you do allow your child to go? What school will represent them in Canada? Don't trust that they will provide a hotel for them. I have heard horror stories about trips to the USA where the kids ended up sleeping in the gym on the floor in the school. Confirm everything personally inside Canada before considering letting your kid go. Third! This is probably a school sponsored trip. So don't expect any answers from the MOE. Fourth! Why don't you go with them if you can not confirm anything? Thais are not especially known as being responsible and they surely are known for milking money on the sly. My last school went on a trip to Singapore! They barely got fed and it wasn't decent meals. Their hotels were crappier than here in Thailand, and their tours were geared to get the kids to spend money in gifts. This trip was given at a prominent Catholic school in Thailand. You decide! It's your kid. But if you don't know and verify every detail. I wouldn't take a chance

"prominent Catholic school"

Sarasas

[thesetat2013]

Sarasas is not a Catholic school

[poohy]

Hmm

Working in the travel game i worked alongside schools from Canada bringing children to Vietnam and Laos for educational tours from memory the youngest of those groups would be 15/16 years old.

Children 9 years old would need much more extra care.

Although i cannot confirm definitely Canada is pretty strict on this sort of stuff i am surprised that they are hosting them!

[Scott]

I don't think there is any age limit set by the MOE. I don't know how they cold legally restrict such actions. The students need to get a visa to the country they will visit and this usually partially insures that the institution/agency on the other end is approved or licensed.

I've not been directly involved in any of these study groups, but our school(s) have them each year and they have gone as far afield as the UK, Australia and New Zealand. I believe the youngest students are 10 - 11, but I don't think that we've had students younger than about 12 or 13 go to the overseas countries.

The process is quite lengthy and depends a little on the country. The last time they went to the UK, with a side trip to Paris, all documents were submitted to the embassy and then the school and the child (in some cases the parent) had to accompany them to the embassy for an individual interview. There were a lot of consent forms signed by parents.

On the receiving end there is a licensed agency which is involved and they are responsible for housing and other things in the host country.

We never send parents along on the trip, although there is nothing to prevent them from going, but they wouldn't be included in the program. We have had parents who have wanted to accompany the child, but this was rejected. There is a good student/staff ratio, but the majority of the supervision is offered by the agency on the other side.

9 is a little on the young side, but it would depend on how mature the child was and the age of the other students. We tend to bring older students on overseas trips because they need to have a reasonable level of English to function.

Most children are put with host families during the stay and attend classes, activities and sightseeing during the day and on weekends.

[gerryBScot]

The company mentioned above are owned by a very prominent Thai Catholic family and are known to be very cosy with the various Catholic dioceses in Thailand. Could it be anything to do with the fact that the said dioceses are all involved in education which provides them with a very substantial and significant income?

While it would be wrong to single out Thai Catholic schools when over the last twenty to thirty years the Catholic church in many countries across the globe has been overwhelmed by the issue of sexual abuse of minors, there is from my experience a distinct lack of God in the Thai Catholic schools I know but rather an obsession with money to the point that some of these guys would turn you over for 1 baht. It sounds as though this spirit is alive and well from reading the original and some of the subsequent posts.

[Scott]

The company mentioned above is not relevant to this thread. That school system does not have any international schools.