The team visited also a migrant learning center in Muang District of Songkhla operated by Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand (PPAT) with the support of ILO-IPEC. The learning center started in August 2013 and now serves 29 mostly Cambodian children aged between 6 – 12 years old. The parents are migrant workers working in a fish pier nearby the area.
 

The learning center provides the children with a classroom and a teacher who help them to learn how to read and write Thai. This is a way to prepare them for being enrolled into one of the Thai public schools. The center also has a small play area where children have an opportunity to access age appropriate development tools under supervision of the teacher.




“I can see that the children are happy, and it is clear that their parents are even happier as they can send children to our center,” said Mohammad Yusoh Salae, PPAT staff member who oversees the learning center. “Parents are very responsible for sending their kids to the center. The center has also received support from employers who allow them to use their vehicle as a school bus for sending off and picking up the children.”

PPAT plans to refer these children to be enrolled in a nearby Thai public school in the next school year in May after their progress is assessed and they are ready to confidently sit in classroom with Thai children.
 

Access to education is a key strategy for the ILO-IPEC project in Thailand. Being in school prevents children at risk from being drawn into child labour before the legal age. Children who are already working can also be withdrawn from hazardous conditions of work and reintegrated to school.For children of migrant workers, it is important that they go through transitional classes prior to being enrolled into Thai schools. This is to ensure that they can catch up with the class and prevent them from demotivation and dropping out. This learning center is one form of transitional education for migrant children.