Help 200 Students From Burma Study for University

by Thabyay Education Network

Project Report | Jan 20, 2017
Bridging the Gap: Opening of GED Test Center for migrants and refugees at Thai-Myanmar border

By Sandar Lwin | Program Manager

Bridging the Gap: Opening of GED Test Center for migrants and refugees at Thai-Myanmar border

General Education Development/General Education Diploma (GED)Testing Service is a joint program between the American Council on Education (ACE) and Pearson VUE. Thabyay Education Network Foundation opened an authorized select GED Test Center partnering with the Pearson VUE to provide the testing services for the students studying at the Migrant Learning Centers’ GED Preparation Programs.

Thabyay’s Exam Preparation Outreach Program (EPOP) primarily targets at the Myanmar learners who are living in refugee camps, far from developed cities and towns with lack of the opportunities for higher education but are in great need for education.

The students of migrant learning centers in Mae Sot come from various family backgrounds and situations. They represent a range of ethnicities, cultures and personalities. Only a few of them have formal high school matriculation level from Myanmar.

Most of them have completed their informal education in refugee camps or migrant schools. Several groups of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) have jointly helped the students and young adults get the relevant skills according to their needs and aims.

Many of the MLC students’ aims are higher. They want to continue their education at university level. To get into the national or international programs in the universities, the students need to have a recognized high school diploma. Therefore, the MLCs collect the students along the Thai-Myanmar border areas and refugee camps to help prepare the students to take a high school equivalency test, which is the GED high school equivalency diploma.

When the students are ready for the GED Exam, MLCs had to send their students to the authorized test centers which were only in big cities such as Chiang Mai and Bangkok. To be able to take the GED Test in the cities, migrant and refugee students had faced many difficulties such as visa, transportation, accommodation, etc.
To fill the gap, Thabyay assessed the needs of the GED test center associated with the migrant learning centers in Mae Sot. Gratefully in November 2016, the Pearson VUE authorized select GED Test Center has been officially launched. At the time of reporting in January 2017, more than 80 exams have been administered by Thabyay’s GED Test Center in Mae Sot.

Without the help, supports and generosity of the donors through the Global Giving they could not have made these achievements. On behalf of our students and the project team, I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone who supports our programs. We are looking forward with great enthusiasm and accomplishment of the students.

With our best wishes,
Sandar Lwin
Program Manager
Thabyay e-Learning Platform/Exam Preparation Outreach Program

Attachments:

Bridging the Gap:Thabyay GEDTest Center in Mae Sot (PDF)

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Oct 24, 2016
Further studies opportunity of marginalized youths

By Sandar Lwin | Program Coordinator

Further studies opportunity of marginalized ethnic youths
Thabyay Education Foundation’s Exam Preparation Outreach Program (EPOP) introduced a new model of collaboration to accept the enrollment of students from community based learning centers. The learning centers integrate EPOP into their course modules by giving specific class time to study with EPOP within the class schedules. At the time of reporting, 3 learning centers of migrants and refugees students in Thai-Myanmar border areas and 2 learning centers in the 2 States inside Myanmar have already taken part in this collaboration.

The students from these areas are living far from developed cities and towns, migrant areas and refugee camps with lack of higher education opportunities. The discussion and initial collaboration has been taken with our partners of another 5 learning centers in Myanmar & Thailand for further studies opportunity of marginalized ethnic youths.

162 students from 23 different locations enrolled in EPOP 1/2016 semester (Feb-Sep 2016) and TOEFL Diagnostic Testing was conducted at the end of the semester. 102 students passed the courses and 66 % of the students showed their improvement in TOEFL scores comparing to their recent diagnostic test of June, 2016.

272 students from 28 different locations enrolled in EPOP 2/2016 semester which begun in the first week of October, 2016. During 2016, EPOP conducted the TOEFL diagnostic test for 677 students; 213 in March, 144 in June and 320 in September. EPOP administered TOEFL ITP official test for 63 EPOP students in 2016, 62% won scholarship for further studies.

We thank you once again for your kind support for this important program, supporting for the Academic English Courses and TOEFL Test preparation course, which help closing the gap of the requirement for the further study opportunities of marginalized ethnic youths. We hope that this report will inspire you to continue to support us in the future.

With our best wishes,
Sandar Lwin Program Coordinator Thabyay e-Learning Platform – EPOP sandar@thabyay.org www.epopasia.org

Attachments:

Further studies opportunity of marginalized youths (PDF)

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Jul 27, 2016
Thabyay's EPOP Courses and Tablet PC Project

By Sandar Lwin | Program Coordinator

Thabyay e-Learning Platform’s EPOP Courses and Tablet PC Project

Thabyay e-Learning Platform’s EPOP Courses ( TeP- EPOP) provide guided online self-study courses to help at least 350 students each year for attaining the qualifications they need to be eligible for international universities.

EPOP Online Course – Tablet PC Project

Thabyay e-Learning Platform’s EPOP Tablet PC Project is an innovative and new generation online learning approach. It provides access to digitally excluded communities, marginalized groups and minorities in the remote areas of Myanmar on a small but easy-to-use device: on a tablet.

The opening ceremony together with dedication service for rolling out of Thabyay’s “EPOP Online Course – Tablet PC Project” co-implemented by EPOP and Youth Development of Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) was successfully held in Myitkyina, Kachin State in May 2016. The attendees included the Reverends and staff of KBC, students and staff from other partner organizations.

Students are actively doing their assignments on the student portal and studying with the EPOP supported tablets at the center. With the regular supervising and communication, the volunteer is monitored and assisted by the TeP EPOP team.

TOEFL ITP Official Testing and Midterm Diagnostic Testing

The monitoring and evaluation of the EPOP Online Course – Tablet PC Project will be carried out by the end of July along with the midterm diagnostic testing in Myitkyina, Kachin State. Through networking, EPOP established the new collaboration partners in Kayah and Kayin States to reach out more and provide the opportunities to access the higher education in marginalized areas.

The students from these areas are living in refugee camps, far from developed cities and towns with lack of infrastructure. The discussion and initial collaboration has been taken with our prospective partners for the opportunity for further studies of marginalized ethnic youths.

The first semester of 2016 started in April, 2016. All students had the chance to measure their progress acquired since the beginning of the course, hence TeP team arranged and conducted midterm diagnostic tests in Myanmar and Thailand at the beginning of July. Based on these results, EPOP provided TOEFL ITP exam to students who reached their target scores. Out of 16 official TOEFL ITP test takers, 13 test takers scored 550 above and 6 students won the scholarships to study in international universities.

EPOP 1/2016 semester’s Midterm Testing was conducted for 162 students from 23 different locations. 50% of the test takers scored 50 points improvement comparing to their recent diagnostic test in April, 2016.

We thank you once again for your kind support for this important program, providing Academic English Courses and TOEFL Test preparation course, which help closing the gap of the student’s requirement for the further study opportunities. If you have any questions about this report, or about our work, please do get in touch.

With our best wishes,

Sandar Lwin

Program Coordinator
Thabyay e-Learning Platform – EPOP
sandar@thabyay.org
www.epopasia.org

Attachments:

Thabyay's EPOP Courses and Tablet PC Project (PDF)

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