Burma Education Partnership

Background

Due to civil war and poverty thousands of Burmese have fled to Thailand for safety or to find work. Seven refugee camps contain 140,000 refugees mainly from the Karen ethnic group and countless thousands of migrants live outside of the camps working in sweatshops, rice paddies and , at worst, scavenging on the municipal rubbsih dumps. In these difficult circumstances the refugee and migrant communities try to provide education for their children.

What we do

BEP is a specialist teacher training organisation currently providing educational support to these displaced Burmese communities inside Thailand.

Mobile units of professional British and Burmese trainers are sent out to schools in refugee camps and scattered migrant communities where there is limited access to resources and teacher training.

The essence of the organisation is the creation of professional partnerships with BEP teachers offering training to groups outside of the classroom but following up with working alongside these teachers preparing and delivering lessons and demoing new techniques.

In this way teachers gain confidence and the skills to use a range of techniques while maintaining conrol over their professional lives.