In an attempt to manage its budget, the Thai Ministry of Education decided to stop providing funding to community schools with less than 50 students, forcing them to transfer students to larger schools for budget efficiency. While hundreds of small schools closed, many in less accessible areas found it impossible to encourage students to continue their education due to difficulty in daily transportation.
Baan Huay Paan Learning Center (BHPLC School for easy reference), in a small community in Nan, a small province in Northern Thailand, is among those impacted by this policy. Despited being a direct causaulty, the teacher at this school were relentless and has been trying to find ways to raise donation for the school since the budget stopped coming.
This is where we decided to step in. We believe it is important that the teacher get to focus on teaching, and equally important, to feel more stable.
For the 2021 academic year, we provided US$13,500 to the school, allowing them to cover the cost of tuition and field trip of all 13 students. But BHPLC was only a starting point. We are currently working to review our work in the first year, identify more areas to support the school, find more fitting schools, and improve our fundraising capacity in line with our expansion plan.