As dusk begins to descend, Aong Mooring, 17, wipes the sweat from his face as he puts away his gardening tools in a shed. His long day in the orange orchards in Fang district of Chiang Mai has come to an end, and it is now time for something he has looked forward to all day — going to school.
A Thai teacher handles a class full of eager pupils every day as he teaches them the basics of the Thai language and their rights. The migrant children's parents work in Fang district of Chiang Mai.
The school Aong attends is not a typical one. Situated in a small building in the heart of the orange orchards, by day it is an early childhood education centre for the young offspring of migrant workers. At night the building is transformed into a school for young people and adults who work all day in the orchards. Small tables are placed in the middle of the classroom, and two old blackboards are hung on the walls.
At about 6.30pm, young workers and adults begin arriving at the school by foot and on motorcycle, and within a half hour the classroom is filled with students. For most of the students, the orchard school is the only place where they will ever have the opportunity to get an education.
"Before going to the orchard school I had never received an education," says Aong, who has now finished Grade 6 and is currently studying non-formal education at night school. "I am an only child and both my parents are illiterate. I want to be able to read and write so I can communicate with doctors when my parents are sick. I want to be able to read labels on pesticides so I know how to protect myself and my family when applying chemicals in the orchard."
There is a high demand for labourers in Fang district, which is home to dozens of orange orchards. This has drawn ethnic minorities from Myanmar, who cross the border in search of jobs and a better life in Thailand. Children accompanying parents have usually not gone to school before settling in Fang, and often end up working in the orchards alongside their parents.
"All children in Thailand have the right to an education, regardless of their citizenship or civil registration status," says Rangsun Wiboonuppatum, chief of the Education Section for Unicef Thailand. "Education helps children to develop their full potential, contribute to society and become good citizens."
Unicef works with the non-government organisation Group for Children to provide education for children of ethnic minorities in Fang district so that they are equipped with the knowledge needed to survive and thrive in their new home.
Called the "Rai Som" model, the project began in 2007 with the objective of providing a basic education to migrant children whose parents work in the Fang district orchards. Under the project, there are three schools that provide early childhood and primary education for children between two to 14 years of age during the day, and two night schools that provide a non-formal education for youth and adults who work in the orchards.
"The objective of the project is to provide basic education to migrant children so they are safe from harm and that they are able to communicate in Thai in their daily lives, such as when they go see doctors or to buy food," says Adul Duangdeetaweeratana, the project manager of Group for Children.
"We want them to use the knowledge they gain from the orchard school to make their time in Thailand as happy as possible."
Unicef and Group for Children work with Chiang Mai Education Service Area Office 3 to provide an education for these children. Currently, there are about 270 children studying at the orchard schools, while 200 others have already graduated from them.
Taught at the day schools are subjects which follow the standard curriculum provided at the mainstream schools. The classes are conducted in compliance with the guidelines of the Education Ministry.
The day classes are comprised of the compulsory subjects such as Thai, mathematics and social sciences, and the students also sit an exam to test their knowledge of the subjects they have learned.
The night schools, on the other hand, are geared toward teaching mature adults and so the subjects are designed to be better suited and more practical to their everyday life.
The emphasis is on teaching the adult students to be proficient in the basic skills of the Thai language. This is to allow them to communicate more effectively outside of class. The language classes are taught using Education Ministry-approved textbooks and teaching materials.
Teachers at the night and day schools are regular instructors employed at local schools under the Education Zone 3 office in Chiang Mai. They are paid extra to conduct the orchard schools and are trained to teach programmes for students in the special classes.
There are currently enough teachers at the day and night schools. They are paid some money for taking the time to teach at the schools.
Sangdao Wongpa, one of the teachers at the orchard schools and known to her students as "Kru Dao", recalls that it was not easy at the start to convince parents to bring their children to the schools. Parents felt that there was no need for the children to study because they would end up working in the orchards anyway.
"I had to walk from orchard to orchard and explain to the parents about the importance of education," she says. "I told them the children will be outside the orchards as well so it is essential that they have the knowledge they need for survival."
What is unique about the orchard schools is that they allow students to enrol at any time during the semester and to take examinations even if they miss a lot of classes.
"We have to be flexible because migrant children enter Thailand all year round, so we cannot turn them away for not registering by a certain date. If we don't allow them to come to school, where will they go?" Kru Dao asks.
Aong Mooring, 17, works in the orchard during the day and goes to the orchard school at night.
Pupils listen carefully to their teacher. Classes are provided for early childhood and primary education for children aged between two and 14.
