Thailand: Training Refugee Teachers on the Thai-Burma Border
Saw Po Ben left his wife and three sons behind when he came to the Mae La refugee camp in 2003, as a teacher. A retired schoolteacher from Burma, he is now the director of the Teacher Preparation Course (TPC) in the camp. His role is to train young refugees in the camp to be teachers. In his TPC, there are 77 young men and women. The program provides teaching skills to students graduating from grade 10. After completing a two-year study program at TPC, the students are capable of teaching at primary and secondary school levels. Currently, there are 30 first-year students (18 women and 12 men) and 47 second-year students (27 women and 20 men).
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Mae La Camp, Mae Sot, Thailand, where World Education,
as part of the Consortium with World Learning, builds
teachers' skills in preparation for their return to Burma
when they leave the camp.
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"What we are doing here can be brought with us when we return to Burma. Teachers graduating from this school will be able to get any teaching position in any school in Burma. The quality is very high."
"The TPC assures a quality education for students in primary and secondary schools. The teachers who are well trained are in better positions to educate their students. In my 25 years of teaching, I have seen many teachers who were not able to teach because they did not receive good training in teaching."
For the approximately 130,000 refugees from Burma who live in refugee camps in Thailand, their resources for education activities are extremely limited. The Consortium of World Education and World Learning, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), addresses the education needs of the refugees. The Consortium, in partnership with the local refugee education department and NGOs, trains refugee teachers and school administrators, and works on curriculum development, special education, adult literacy, and materials development and production. The Consortium, through the Education Assistance to Burmese Refugees project, has worked in five Burmese refugee camps, with populations of approximately 120,000 since 1999. The focus of the Project is both to improve education for refugee children and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the teachers and refugee education leaders so that when they return to Burma they will be prepared to develop an effective education system in their communities.
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Saw Po Ben, 55, directs the Teacher Preparation Course in
the Mae La Refugee Camp, Mae Sot, Thailand.
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Recognizing that education is the cornerstone to a democratic society, the refugees want to educate their children in the camp setting, so that some day they may return to Burma and actively partake in its transformation. For this reason, the Consortium also provides targeted education support, while all work is carried out in cooperation with local NGOs. This is done to ensure sustainability and effectiveness of the training efforts, and to create a sustainable education system that can be quickly adapted when the refugees return to Burma.
"What we are doing at TPC is very important for preparing our future. Our nation needs people with good education," comments Saw Po Ben. "The future of our young people is education."
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