HomeBased Learning began last Tuesday 16th, June 2020. We had opportunities to sit down with teachers doing community activities. The children said that they were glad to see the teachers. The teachers have been teaching at home or gather in small groups in order to do activities. They complain about wanting to go back to school. "When will the study center open?" they ask.
The teachers told us the daily delivery of HomeBased activities are not the same. They need to adjust to the situation every day. For example, the first day was planned for a group of 4-8 students, but the second day the group-size needed to be reduced to only 3-5 students due to restrictions at the location. Some organized the HomeBased Learning at children's homes, under trees, temples, or other locations. Some learning centers have to divide groups of children into different age groups. While they wait for teachers to be with them they can read and play at the school bus which is set up like a mobile library. Maybe adding some toys would also be a good idea.
Many teachers echo the problem caused by the closing of the Migrant Learning Center. It makes parents worry about their children's education while at the same time they have to work as much as they can to recap the missing income from the lockdown. Many parents do not want to leave their children alone, but take the child to work and the child can not participate in HomeBased Learning with the teacher. Many older children have to help their parents work to earn income. And the teacher reflected in the same voice that they understood the situation of children, seeing the children's living conditions, knowing that why some children miss school often, many children have to help their parents work. Some children have a disability or handicapped parents.
Thank you to all the teachers who are dedicated to this activity. Thank you to Ajarn Wanida who has observed and helped fulfil the teachers' ability to see learning disabilities through activities and encourage discussions with all teachers. As for the mission of delivering the "Food Sets for Life'' on the 18th and 19th, we delivered to the Tha Moei community in Mae Cha. We distributed 65 sets as well as 129 sets to the cow market community, totalling 194 sets for this second round. Both communities are among the first round communities to which we've delivered food sets. We've also noted that there are still families in need of help with food who we weren't able to help in the last round.
