About
Department of Basic Education of KRCEE is managing the basic education in the refugee camps in close cooperation with ZOA Thailand. Department of Basic Education oversees the quality of teaching and instruction, runs teacher training, conducts student assessment, develops and implements the curriculum. 67 schools are providing basic education for 26,875 students (2013-2014). The basic education system The current system for refugee camp education was introduced in 2008 in cooperation with ZOA Thailand to streamline it more to the Thai education system. Basic education provided in the schools in the camps follows a thirteen year system divided into three levels. A kindergarten level and twelve Grades. Primary schooling consists of kindergarten, and 1st Grade – 6th Grade. Middle school is seen as the period from 7th to 9th Grades. High school runs from Grade 10 to 12. There are not prescribed ages to be learning at these levels due to various factors in the camp related to the ongoing situation in Burma. The learning areas are language, science, mathematic, art (in pilot schools), social studies and health education. Karen language is the teaching language in basic education as 94% (25,157) of the students have Karen as first language. Enrollment Enrollment in basic education is satisfying in the Kindergarten and Primary school level with a percentage of 64% of the 17,218 children aged between 5 – 12 years enrolled. The percentage of enrollment decreases for the number of years in school. Enrollment at the secondary level is an issue KRCEE is continuing to address as it is particularly low. Refugees have limited freedom of movement and this makes it very difficult for graduates to find relevant work after school which affects their motivation for secondary and higher education. Facilities Another issue that is restraining the education environment in the refugee camps is lack of facilities in terms of adequate school buildings and utensils/equipment. The camps are officially temporary and therefore no permanent constructions are allowed. School buildings are made of bamboo with no sound isolation between the classrooms. With an average class size of 35 students per teacher the learning environment is crowded and loud. Recent amendments from the Thai government allow semi-permanent construction, but it is still inadequate. Find current statistics of basic education here. Teacher Training The education system in the refugee camps faces big challenges in filling teacher positions and recent graduates with limited teaching knowledge are working as teachers. KRCEE together with NGO service providing agencies are running courses for teachers in the camps in order to meet the urgent need of teacher training. Pre-service Teacher Training In order to get swift and on time teacher replacements, KRCEE together with its partner NGO, ZOA Thailand, have initiated a one-month teacher training course for those who have been identified by schools to become teachers. Introduction to how to be a teacher in general, education theory, classroom management and working with youngsters are taught in the course. A severe obstacle to teacher training are restrictions on the refugee’s freedom of movement and that people from outside the camps have limited access under current regulations to the refugee camps. Education staff are not allowed to leave the camps to receive training. The UN resettlement in third countries program started in 2007 and by 2013, thousands of refugees have resettled and among these large numbers of experienced teachers have left for resettlement. Despite the massive resettlement, the overall number of students remains the same as they were prior to resettlement as new refugees continue to arrive to the camps. |
In-service Teacher Training
Starting from 2001, many subjects taught in refugee camps are regularly upgraded and updated. In order to provide teachers with new and updated subject methodology, Resident Teacher Trainers (RTTs) have been recruited in the camps to regularly conduct subject methodology training for the school teachers. Especially when new teachers are recruited the In-service Teacher Training is vital. Assessment There are two types of assessment under the camp education system: one is conducted at school level and one is conducted at central level by KRCEE. School examination School examinations, which are carried out by the schools, are conducted three times in an academic year. The Resident Teacher Trainers are training the teachers in order to establish and ensure a similar assessment model in all basic education schools. Board examination Board examination is conducted by Local Board Examination and by KRCEE at the end of the last grade (standard) of each key stage -primary, middle, and high school. The examination is put in place to ensure the standardized learning outcome of students from each key stage. It is also used to assess the effectiveness of teaching and learning methodology. The Department of Basic Education develops the question papers, distributes them to the seven refugee camps, corrects the completed exams and announces the results. Curriculum Education in the camps was initiated by teachers and parents who made an extraordinary effort to give their children access to education. KRCEE has had to streamline the curriculum to make sure it can still be applicable in a situation where teaching resources are limited. Pre-middle school curriculum Of the 67 basic education schools, 63 schools use the curriculum outlined by KRCEE where pre-middle school learning provide students with the opportunity to learn Karen, Burmese, English, Maths, Geography and Health. After fifth grade is reached, Science and Social Studies such as History, Religion, Economics, Environment and Civic and governance and Health Education are introduced into the curriculum. There are also vocational activities within some of the school learning programs. New curriculum A new set of curriculum was initiated in 2008 as the new system for refugee camp education was introduced. The curriculum aims to update and localize the learning areas and contents. The setting of the curriculum is built up age based, wide and depth of the contents is built spirally. Divided in three year periods the learning areas and their learning standards are defined in the curriculum framework. In 2010, the curriculum team wrote up syllabi for Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and English, Karen and Burmese language textbooks. Certification KRCEE is continually advocating for accreditation of the curriculum taught in camps.. Primary and secondary level education which ends at 12 grade (high school) is not officially recognised anywhere outside of the camps |