As students across the country return to school for the new semester, 800 children who have been studying at learning centres for migrant and refugee students in Samut Sakhon are being forced to stay home.
Their access to education has been curtailed since the provincial administration launched a crackdown on the centres last Saturday.
Five venues have been targeted that offer education, language classes and cultural assimilation knowledge. Three are run by The Labour Protection Network (LPN), a well-known NGO formed to take care of the labour rights and welfare of migrant workers.
The other two -- the Marist Centre for Migrants and St Joachim Catholic Centre for Migrants -- are run by the St Ann Catholic Centre for Migrants.
The Samut Sakhon provincial administrative office (PAO) said these centres need to be closed because they violate administrative laws. It said their classrooms, facilities and teacher recruitment schemes do not align with the standards defined by the education ministry.
To ease the impact on migrant students, the PAO has provided seats at 43 schools in the province for them. However, their parents have yet to contact those schools.
Such a crackdown reflects our overly education-centric policy when it comes to migrant students.
The ministry allows these learning centres to operate in several provinces on the country's borders, such as in Tak, Mae Hong Son and Chiang Rai.
Elsewhere in the nation, migrant workers can send their students to state schools where they will receive benefits and treatment equal to Thai students.
While the ministry deserves credit for trying to provide equal education, the latest crackdown is having the opposite effect.
Since last year, the government has closed several such learning centres in Samut Sakhon, Pathum Thani and Phuket. The police have launched investigations and charged some with violating immigration laws.
The bigger question is whether this policy benefits migrant students in terms of their education. Also, does it help young migrant workers assimilate into Thai culture?
The answer is no. Without advance communication and preparation between state schools and parents, the latter rarely send their kids to regular schools. Instead, the children are left at home and become vulnerable to exploitation.
The ministry should open its ears to the recent recommendation by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Early this month, the NHRC sent a letter to the government and the education ministry asking the government to open more of these learning centres in provinces that are popular with migrant workers, such as Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan, Chon Buri, Rayong, Surat Thani, Phangnga, and Phuket.
Migrant workers and their offspring are a part of Thai society. As such, the government should find a way to provide them with easy access to education and help them assimilate better into Thai culture.
To achieve this goal, it needs to embrace an "open arms" policy rather than one of iron fists. Instead of treating these learning centres as illegal, the government would be better advised to treat them as tools serving its education policy.