Welcome to Bright Path Learning Centre · Volunteer Handbook

Bright Path Learning Centre provides free education for around 250 children parents have come from Myanmar to work in and around Mae Sot. Many of our students have missed several years of school, and some arrive read or write in any language.

As a volunteer, you will help our teachers in the classroom, lead small reading groups and support activities such as art and sport. You do not need teaching experience, you must be patient, reliable and respectful.

Please remember that many of our families face difficult situations. Do not ask children about their families’ legal status, and never take or share photographs of children permission from the centre.

Volunteers are expected to stay for at least three months. This children to build trust with you, is essential for learning. If you need to leave early, please tell the director as soon as possible.

Most of all, remember that you are here to learn as well as to teach. Our students have much to teach you about courage, and hope.

Dear Friends of Bright Path,

My name is Fai, and I am an eighteen-year-old volunteer from Bangkok. I am writing to ask you to continue our learning centre in Mae Sot.

When I arrived six months ago, I what to expect. I found a school with no air conditioning, too few books and teachers who are paid far less than they deserve. I also found some of the most determined students I met.

Take Aung, who is thirteen. Every morning he helps his father at the market from five o’clock, and then he walks forty minutes to school. When he joined our class, he could barely read. Last month he wrote a story in English a boy who a bridge across a river so that his family can visit their old village. I have included his story with this letter.

Without your support, the centre will have to reduce its number of teachers next year. would mean larger classes and less attention for children who have already missed so much.

A gift of 3,000 baht pays for one child’s books and lunches for a whole year. I know that is a lot to ask, I have seen what it makes possible.

Thank you for reading. Please the children’s stories speak for themselves.

With gratitude,
Fai Wongthong

Bright Path Learning Centre · Middle Group Timetable

7:30–8:00 Breakfast (free for all students) 8:00–8:15 Morning assembly 8:15–9:45 Thai language 9:45–10:00 Break 10:00–11:30 English (Teacher Fai, Monday–Thursday) · Art (Friday) 11:30–12:30 Lunch 12:30–14:00 Mathematics 14:00–15:00 Burmese language and culture 15:00–15:30 Reading club (optional)

Students who arrive after 8:15 should go straight to their classroom. Students who work in the mornings may join from 10:00 with the director’s permission.

Schools in the In-Between

Along Thailand’s western border, tens of thousands of children grow up between two countries. Their parents have come from Myanmar to work on farms, in factories and on construction sites. Many of these children were born in Thailand, but they often face difficulties enrolling in local government schools, including language barriers, missing documents and the cost of uniforms and transport.

To fill this gap, communities and charities have set up migrant learning centres. Some began in a single room with one volunteer teacher; others now serve hundreds of students. They usually teach in Burmese and other community languages, as well as Thai and English, and many provide free meals, which for some children is the only reliable food of the day.

The centres face serious challenges. Most depend on donations, which can rise and fall with international attention. Teachers, often from migrant communities themselves, receive low salaries. And because the centres are not always officially recognised, students may struggle to obtain certificates that are accepted by universities or employers.

In recent years, Thai authorities and education groups have worked to give more migrant children access to government schools and to recognise more learning centres. Thailand’s policy of education for all children, regardless of nationality, has been praised internationally, although putting it into practice remains difficult.

Researchers who study the centres say they are more than schools. They are places of safety, routine and hope for children whose lives are often uncertain.

The Bridge · a story by Aung, age 13 (written in English, corrected only for spelling)

There was a boy named Min who lived on one side of a wide river. On the other side was his grandmother’s village, where his family used to live. Every evening Min sat on the riverbank and looked at the lights of the village. He could see them, but he could not reach them.

One day Min decided to build a bridge. He collected bamboo from the forest and rope from the market. The other children laughed at him. “A boy cannot build a bridge,” they said.

Min worked every day after school. Sometimes the river was too strong, and his bamboo was carried away. He was tired and wanted to stop. But he remembered his grandmother’s voice telling him stories at night, and he started again.

After one year, the bridge was long enough to reach the other side. It was not beautiful. It moved in the wind. But it was strong enough for one person at a time.

Min walked across slowly. On the other side, his grandmother was waiting. She was older, and her hair was white, but she knew him at once.

“I knew you would come,” she said.

Now the other children use the bridge too. Nobody laughs anymore.