Literacy Education for Thai Minority Community

Community Learning Centre in Mae Sai, Thailand

What is the Community Learning Center (CLC)?

The Community Learning Centre in Mae Sai, under direction of DEPDC/GMS, strives to provide human rights education and literacy training in Thai, Burmese, and English languages for undocumented migrants, refugees and other community members living along the Thai-Burmese border. The CLC officially opened its doors in February 2005 and has been operating ever since, alternating teachers between current DEPDC staff members, community tutors, and volunteers.

The center is open to young people who are at-risk of being sold into the commercial sex industry as well as to their parents and other adult community members. The majority of the current CLC students have an ethnic background belonging to the Shan, Akha, or other hilltribe minority groups. The remaining students come from local Thai government schools and are unable to afford tutors in the English or Burmese language, the CLC’s two primary classes at this time.

Three Month Update

There has not been too many changes these last few months. Kru Mai remains the only CLC teacher. More teachers are desired but funding is unavailable at this time. Thus, we are very grateful to have Kru Mai teaching the Community Learning Center classes at DEPDC/GMS every evening. The students love her fun and motivating teaching style. Additionally, she speaks Thai, Burmese, and English which simplifies the instruction of complicated grammar rules in the various languages taught onsite. English Language Class continues to be taught Monday through Thursday and Burmese Language Class is only on Friday and Saturday due to limited human resources.

There remains a shortage of volunteers at DEPDC/GMS to assist with the CLC. Thus, I want to encourage readers to spread the word about the work of DEPDC/GMS to those who may be interested in volunteering in the near future, want a gap year from school, or require an internship in the fields of human rights, social work, international relations, social/community/economic development and/or education.

The weather was surprisingly cold. This may come as a surprise to many reading this update, but Mae Sai is located in the far Northern region of Thailand where temperatures can drop to 15 degrees celsius in the Winter months. The CLC classes take place in the evenings, the coldest time of the day. The classroom is not insulated and the tiled floors make it feel even colder for the students who attend classes at night. However, the CLC students continued to come each night despite the chilling weather. They braved the cold with Kru Mai to further their education.

Donation Support Needed for Teachers and Materials

We are very interested in receiving donations for study materials during this time of need. If donors would prefer donating study books, we currently use the third edition of “Let’s Go” (Cross, Nakata, Frazier, and Hoskins). Let’s get started, level 1, 2, and 3 are used by the largest number of students with several using levels 4 and 5 as well. The community learning centre has struggled with funding these last few years and thus our classes and clas size has reduced. Please help spread the word to keep the CLC open and available to the current students and for future learners.

Thank you to all those supporting the Community Learning Centre!

Thank you for taking the time to read our update about the Community Learning Center. We appreciate your time and support beyond what words can express!  I want to thank you on behalf of all our staff members, educators, community learners, and especially our children who benefit from the thoughtfulness of people like you.

Links:

• DEPDC's Homepage
• Volunteer Opportunities
• DEPDC/GMS Instagram