REMOTE COMMUNITY COLLEGES CATER TO LOCAL NEEDS

UNCLAS CHIANG MAI 000071

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR ECA, EAP/PD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV OEXC KPAO TH
SUBJECT: REMOTE COMMUNITY COLLEGES CATER TO LOCAL NEEDS



1. Summary: Two community colleges set up four years ago with
US assistance in the northern Thai border province of Mae Hong
Song are using the region's religious and ethnic diversity as
teaching tools. Located in a poor and remote province on the
Burma border, both colleges are run by civic boosters who see
future development as dependent on a better-trained population.
End summary


2. During an April 25-26 visit to the town of Mae Sariang near
the Thai-Burma border, the Consul General met with board members
of the community college in the small library of the local
mosque, a 150-year-old institution that also functions as a
community learning center. Imam Suriya Aramvong, recently
approved for an International Visitor grant, serves as a guest
teacher at the college. As part of a course on Society and
Ethics, Suriya hosts students at the mosque to explain Islam and
answer their questions. Many ask about perceptions of Islam as
a violent religion, Suriya explained, noting that he welcomes
all questions. Students also visit the local Christian church
and Buddhist temple as part of the course.


3. The Mae Sariang community college and another in the
provincial capital of Mae Hong Song were among the first ten
established about four years ago under a Ministry of Education
initiative supported by the Department of State and Department
of Education. After finishing the two-year course from the
community college, graduates have gone on to further studies
through Chiang Mai's Mae Jo University or Rajabhat University.
Except for these universities' satellite classes, the two
community colleges are the only post-secondary school
institutions in the province.


4. Students in Mae Sariang pay 25 baht (70 cents) per credit
hour. To further keep education affordable, no uniforms are
required. Classes are held at a local primary school on
Saturdays and Sundays; teachers, mostly retired academics, are
unpaid volunteers. Many of the 353 students come from hill
tribe communities in the surrounding mountains; often the whole
family comes to the weekend classes. According to proud members
of the board, the classes offered by the college have made
dramatic improvements in the administrative skills of several
local officials.


5. The Mae Hong Son community college, four hours up a
mountainous road from Mae Sariang, has 400 students and a
USAID-funded/Public Affairs-supported self-access English
learning center. With tourism growing as a source of revenue
for the region, the Mae Hong Son college is run by local
business people eager to develop the tourism industry. The
retired academics on the Mae Sariang board, in contrast, have
chosen to focus on local government and pre-school education,
explaining that tourism has not yet "boomed" in this more remote
location. .


6. Comment: Located in a remote, mountainous region inhabited
mainly by hill tribe groups and home to a number of refugee
camps, these two Mae Hong Son communities are impressively
enthusiastic about the opportunities offered by their tiny
colleges. Largely ignored by Bangkok, with poorly funded
schools, they have embraced the concept of local empowerment and
shaped the colleges to the needs of their own populations.

CAMP