Final Report

Presented by Thein Lwin, Project Coordinator

27 June 2003

Background of the Project

RWCT Northern Thailand Project is designed for Burmese teachers working in Refugee camps and at migrant schools along the Thai-Burma border. Maureen Aung Thwin of Open Society Institute (OSI) initiated the idea of RWCT programs for Burmese teachers. As suggested by Maureen, Thein Lwin went to Romania to attend the 5^th International Conference on RWCT in June 2001. Unfortunately his entry to Romania was denied and he could not attend the conference. However, Jill Bettenhausen of International Reading Association and Prof. Karin Dahl of Ohio State University visited Chiang Mai, Thailand and joined the education seminar on teacher education in November 2001 organized by the Education Team of National Health and Education Committee formed by ethnic and some exiled political groups of Burma. Jill and Karin introduced the RWCT international programs and it methodologies. Then the RWCT Northern Thailand Project was launched in June 2002.

Workshop Details

Three 5-day workshops and one 4-day training trainer workshop were conducted in the Year I program. All workshops were held at the Roong Aroon Resort outside Chiang Mai, Thailand.

First workshop: 10-14 June 2002

Second workshop: 28 October – 1 November 2002

Third workshop: 4-9 January 2003

Training trainer: 24-27 March 2003

Monthly meetings were also held in three regions: Karenni refugee camp in Mae Hong Son Province, Mae Sarieng and Mae Sot.

Participants

Target area of the RWCT Northern Thailand Project was Thai-Burma border (Eastern part of Burma). The reason was that RWCT volunteer(s) could observe the teaching of the participants in their classrooms during their visit in Thailand. The selection of participants was based on ethnic, gender and geographical balance. The primary invitees were 5 Shans, 5 Karennis, 5 Karens, 5 Mons, 5 migrant-school teachers, and 5 teachers from schools run by other exiled political groups. However, only Shan teacher joined the first workshop and he did not come again. There are no proper schools in Shan State near Thai border. Displaced Shan people are not allowed to stay in Thailand as refugees while Karenni and Karen displaced people can stay in refugee camps and open schools. Mon teachers also did not join the workshops. The coordinator had invited Mon teachers via Mon Education Department. It was not clear why they did not join the workshops. Teachers from Western, Northern and Central parts of Burma were not invited to attend the Year I workshops hoping that there might be RWCT programs for them in future.

Four teachers from OSI schools in camps joined the workshops as observers. But later they became the full participants because there were vacancies. Three teacher trainers from the six-month teacher training in Chiang Mai also joined the workshops as observers. The table below shows the list of participants and their attendances.

List of Participants and their Attendances

No.	Name	Region	WS I	WS II	WS III	TOT
1	Paw Ray	Mae Sot – Migrant	ü	ü	ü	ü
2	Thazin Htay Naing	Mae Sot – Migrant	ü	ü	ü	ü
3	Lily Aung	Mae Sot – Migrant	ü	ü	ü	ü
4	Yi Yi	Mae Sot – Migrant	ü	ü	r	r
5	Eh Kha	Mae Sot – Migrant	ü	ü	ü	ü
6	Phyu Phyu Aung	Mae Sot – Muslim group	ü	ü	ü	ü
7	Clamay	Mae La camp – OSI	ü	ü	ü	ü
8	Baby	Umpyum camp – OSI	ü	r	r	r
9	K’Pru Htoo	Mae La camp – OSI	r	ü	ü	ü
10	Htoo May	Mae La camp – Karen	r	ü	ü	r
11	Ler Htoo	Mae Khong Kha camp – Karen	ü	ü	ü	ü
12	Diamond	Mae Khong Kha camp – Karen	ü	ü	ü	ü
13	Dweh Gay	Mae La Mu camp – Karen	ü	ü	ü	ü
14	Po Kaw	Mae La Mu camp – Karen	ü	ü	ü	ü
15	Hla Htay	Mae Khong Kha – Student group	ü	r	r	r
16	Khin Shwe Hlaing	Mae Khong Kha – Student group	ü	ü	ü	ü
17	Soe Shwe	Mae Khong Kha – Student group	ü	ü	ü	ü
18	Zaw Min	Mae Khong Kha – Student group	ü	ü	ü	ü
19	Shwe Htoon	Karenni camp – OSI	ü	ü (TL)	ü	ü
20	Ray Htoo	Karenni camp – Karenni	ü	ü (TL)	ü	ü
21	Jimmy	Karenni camp – Karenni	ü	ü (TL)	ü	ü
22	Tar Malar Htoo	Karenni camp – Karenni	ü	ü (TL)	ü	ü
23	Khu Oo Reh	Karenni camp – Karenni	ü	ü (TL)	ü	ü
24	Martina	Karenni camp – Karenni	ü	r	r	r
25	Tar Oo	Karenni camp – Karenni	r	r