Turning a blind eye

Due to the economic slump and a decline in donations, 50 children under the care of the Christian Foundation for the Blind will lose their chance to get an education

Story and pictures: KULCHAREE TANSUBHAPOL

Arunthip used to look forward to the summer recess which was a chance for her to return home for a happy family reunion. This year, however, her happiness has turned into a nightmare when she realised that she must leave school for good.

"I cried and cried," said the 19-year-old blind student from Loei province. "I want to have an education. If I have to quit school, what would I do at home? What would happen to me in the future?"

Arunthip is among 10 blind students under the care of the Christian Foundation for the Blind who will lose their chance to get an education due to plummeting donations since the Thai economy went into a tailspin.

Some 40 more blind students will have to stop their schooling if the situation does not improve, according to the foundation.

The shocking news was broken to the students early this month. One evening, all students at the foundation's Khon Kaen centre were summoned to the canteen after they got back from school.

Founder Mr Prayat Punong-ong: "The handicapped are discriminated against because we are seen as a burden on society. But we can contribute too if we are allowed to develop our full potential."

Money was running out and the foundation had made the difficult decision to stop sponsorship for 10 students, they were told. Then the dreaded drawing of names began.

To ensure fairness, every student's name was written in Braille on small pieces of paper and put in a box. No one knew who the unlucky ones would be, and the atmosphere was tense. A Prathom Four girl was chosen to draw the names. As each name was read out loud, the hall was filled with the sounds of sobbing.

Afterwards, the 10 unlucky students - five boys and five girls - were grouped together to learn why their education must abruptly come to an end.

Let Pruksakarn, 19, said he felt numb with the shock. "I could not believe that it was true," said the Prathom Six student.

Prayat Punong-ong, 48, founder of the Christian Foundation for the Blind said it saddened him deeply to break the bad news to the students and to withdraw their grants.

"But we have no choice. With a drop in donations, we simply cannot support every student. Cutting down the number of students we sponsor is the best way out. At least some can continue their education," he explained.

Established in 1978, the Christian Foundation for the Blind in Thailand is responsible for providing free education and board to over 2,000 blind children at its five centres in Bangkok, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Roi Et and Lampang provinces.

At its Khon Kaen centre alone, there are 200 students. Half of them study alongside sighted students in some 11 schools in Khon Kaen. The rest live with their families and study the Braille system through books provided by the centre.

Most of the blind students come from poor rural families in the Northeast. Their families cannot afford their education and they wholly depend on the foundation for their support.

Over the past few years, its main funders - mostly foreign humanitarian organisations - stopped financial support for the foundation during the country's economic boom, said Prayat.

Donations from Thai finance companies and construction businesses filled the funding gap and become the foundation's major contributors - amounting to over 54 percent of total donations.

When the economic bubble burst and many finance and real estate businesses crashed, the foundation also found itself in a state of shock. All of a sudden it had lost some 7,000 individual donors.

Making matters worse, the Education Ministry also stopped support for the foundation as part of its austerity programme.

From left: Blind students Arunthip, Let, Boonmee and a friend at the Khon Kaen centre. The Christian Foundation for the Blind in Thailand provides free education and board to over 2,000 blind children at its five centres.

"This is a tough year for us. But if we don't downsize our organisation, we may have to close down some of our centres. I don't want that to happen," said Mr Prayat, who became blind at the age of eight after a car accident.

To survive, the foundation has chosen to cease supporting 50 students at its five centres: 10 each in Khon Kaen, Roi Et and Lampang and another 20 in Nakhon Ratchasima.

By doing so, the organisation can cut 2.38 million baht from its annual budget of 35 million baht.

In another cost-cutting measure, the foundation will not accept any more new students. Normally, it accepts about 70 children each year.

Mr Prayat said: "I started the foundation 20 years ago because I wanted to give educational opportunities to poor blind children. It grieves me to ask some of the children to leave," said the man who is called "father" by the students.

Back in 1978, Mr Prayat rented a house in Khon Kaen to teach 13 blind children and called it the Christian Home for Blind Children. With a meagre budget of 10,000 baht, he aimed to improve the quality of life for some of Thailand's visually handicapped kids and to integrate them into society as productive, proud citizens.

The foundation has since received support from individuals and local and foreign humanitarian agencies. In 1982 the Canadian government, via the Christoffel Blind Mission, donated a piece of land in Khon Kaen for him to construct a school, hostel and administrative centre, which was later officially registered as the Christian Foundation for the Blind in Thailand.

The Education Centre for the Blind in Khon Kaen is also registered as a special school, teaching children from kindergarten through to grade six and using both a formal and an informal education curriculum. Training in mobility and learning to use the "white cane" as well as reading and writing Braille and daily living skills are the basics that the children must master in the preparatory programme prior to entering regular government schools, according to Mr Prayat.

The foundation has also received support from the Foundation Dark and Light in the Netherlands since 1985. Meanwhile, the Thai government, through the Labour Ministry's Public Welfare Department and the Office of the Private Education Commission, provided it with a 500,000-baht budget for the first time in 1993. The figure was last year increased to one million baht.

The foundation's five centres now include the Home for Multiply Handicapped Blind Children on the outskirts of Bangkok (Ram Inthra 34) which is a shelter for 64 children.

Its material resource centre in Khon Kaen supplies material aids in the form of Braille textbooks, large-print books for children with poor vision, toys and teacher training support.

There are also many blind adults who are too old to enter a school, said Mr Prayat. So the foundation assists them with occupational training and interest-free loans to start a business so they can be self-reliant. The borrowers must repay the money within five years. So far, the foundation has lent eight million baht to the blind.

Mr Prayat was disappointed that successive Thai governments have provided so little support for the education of the blind.

During the Gen Chatichai Choonhavan administration, for example, the Dutch government donated a van to the foundation, said Mr Prayat. It was taxed at 2.7 million baht. The foundation tried to negotiate a deduction, but to no avail. Even the Dutch ambassador's requests failed to soften the government's stance. The van was finally confiscated.

"The education of the handicapped in Thailand mainly depends on charities. The government has done little to make education for the handicapped mandatory. And there are no tax policies to make it easier for us to do our work. I often feel ashamed of asking for donations from foreign agencies," said a frustrated Mr Prayat.

The welfare of the handicapped is therefore mostly neglected as a result of the state's apathy, he added.

"Many handicapped children live poorly without proper training and education so that they can help themselves and maintain their self-esteem," he said.

Apart from education, there is a severe lack of social services and infrastructure for the handicapped. "We are treated as second-class citizens. Society is yet to realise that the blind have equal rights to the sighted.

"The handicapped are discriminated against because we are seen as a burden on society. But we can contribute too if we are allowed to develop our full potential.

"By neglecting us, many of the handicapped became weak and are easily exploited," he added.

The crusader for the blind dismissed the "Education For All" slogan of the Education Ministry as mere lip service. "The reality is only the privileged few get a decent education in our country."

The foundation's painful decision to let go of some of its students has obviously embarrassed the Education Ministry. The day after it became news, the education authorities announced that the blind students who were studying at the Kaen Nakorn School could continue their studies.

According to Prayat, the announcement misled the public to believe that the foundation's students no longer have any problems.

Of the 10 students who lost their grants, only a few were studying at the Kaen Nakorn School, he said. Meanwhile, the foundation must soon cease supporting 40 more students if the state cannot come up with funding in time.

Boonmee Kienkhamsee, 17, looked dejected after his name was drawn out of the box. A Prathom-five student at the foundation's Khon Kaen centre, the blind teenager used to have high hopes for himself. "I want to have an education. I want to help myself. Is it too much to ask?"

Info for donations: Name of organisation: The Christian Foundation for the Blind in Thailand Address: 214 Moo 10, Pracharak Road, Muang, Khon Kaen 40000 Tel: (043) 242-098 or 239-499 Fax: (043) 243-448

Bangkok office tel: 510-3625 or 510-4895.

Savings bank account name: The Christian Foundation for the Blind in Thailand Bank account number: 187-0-50438-6 Bank name and branch: Bangkok Bank, Ram Intra branch Khon Kaen account number: 109-2-004-01-1 Bank name and branch: Thai Farmers Bank, Nah Muang Branch, Muang, Khon Kaen

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