Documenting Factors Contributing to the Emergence of Migrant Learning Centers in Thailand

Abstract

This research aims to examine social and economic factors that led to the establishment, proliferation, and development of Migrant Learning Centers (MLCs) in Thailand. With the migration of millions of Myanmar people to Thailand over the past 30 years, Thailand’s economy has positively benefited from their contribution to the labor sector but has also experienced unexpected challenges in realizing migrant children and youth’s right to education. With approximately 200,000 non-Thai children out-of-school, an education chasm threatens the safety and opportunity of migrant children and has necessitated alternative forms of learning via MLCs.

The establishment of Migrant Learning Centers was a result of three key factors including: 1) large numbers of Myanmar migrants residing in Thailand; 2) high numbers of out-of-school Myanmar migrant children; and 3) collective efforts by members within the Myanmar migrant community to provide education for their children. The vital factors that influenced the proliferation of MLCs in Thailand include investment by the Thai State in migrant education via ministerial regulations and international human rights commitments, as well as economic investment by the international donor community, which was a major impetus for MLCs to grow. Over the past 30 years, MLCs have gone through major developments in the ways they operate, coordinate, and advocate. What began as mostly siloed education has now largely become a network of schools that cooperate for increased standardization, recognition, accreditation, and parallel learning pathways.