Refugee Student Aspirations: The impact of the Myanmar crisis on refugee student’s hopes and future education aspirations: Voices from refugees living along the Thailand – Myanmar border

This Refugee Student Aspirations study was commissioned by Save the Children Thailand as an action of the Basic Education Support Towards Transition (BEST) Phase V and Preparing for Reintegration through Education and Participative Solutions (PREPS) 2020 – 2022 projects in Thailand. BEST V and PREPS are implemented by the basic education consortium, led by Save the Children Thailand in partnership with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). The consortium was established in 2013 and supports refugee and ethnic education stakeholders to provide quality basic education in nine refugee camps along the Thailand – Myanmar border. As of July 2022, 18,966 refugee children (8,885 boys: 10,081 girls) were attending refugee schools staffed by 911 teachers (260 male: 651 female).
A key component of the BEST and PREPS projects has been to support durable education solutions for refugee students and teachers. To this end, BEST and PREPS support the Karen and Karenni Education Stakeholder Team (KKEST), which includes refugee and ethnic education stakeholders on both sides of the Thailand – Myanmar border. KKEST contributes to refugee repatriation planning for the education sector and engages in policy advocacy efforts with the Myanmar and Thailand governments on key issues, such as the recognition of refugee student learning and refugee teacher qualifications.