By Richard McMillan | Chairperson
The Saffron Aid team has been helping a small community in Tanintharyi Region to improve education standards and attendance at the monastic school. Monastic schools are an important part of the Myanmar education system but are not funded by the government. Teachers tend to be young people who have graduated from school and have no formal teacher training. Twenty percent (20%) of children have not/do not attend school even though education is free and compulsory for children up to 10 years of age.
This quarter we were lucky enough to be able to disperse $900 raised in GlobalGiving to students and schools in the Tanintharyi Region as below:
3 months wages for Mentor Teacher = $750
5 Families with Vegetable Seed = $50
An extra 5 children equiped for school = $100
Saffron Aid matched the donation and duplicated the above disbursement.
Unfortunately we are still seeing children working to help generate income for their families. This quarter we saw children in factories, rubbish tips, construction sites and building roads. No life for a child.
The new English speaking Mentor Teacher is doing a fantastic job with the children as well as the the teachers. The number of students in the school this quarter has increased by 30 students and attendance is near 90%. This is a fantastic result for this school and we are now duplicating this system in the next monastic school approximately 50 miles further along the river.
Until we get enough funding for the next Mento Teacher we will be sending her to this school for one week a month to help oversea and improve teaching skills for the young teachers.
Many of the children at these monastic schools are orphans and live full time in the monastery.
We appreciate your support in helping giving the young children in this country the opportunity to have an education and to a childhood.
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