Save the Children spoke to teachers, parents and children inside Mae La – the oldest and largest of the nine camps - who said a decrease in food allowances from aid organisations – digital cards topped up monthly to buy food - means families can put less food on the table.
The cutbacks [2] will hit more than 80% of refugees in the camps, according to The Border Consortium, a coalition of humanitarian organisations providing critical supplies to these camps, which has said dwindling funding, coupled with inflation and rising demand, prompted the cuts.[3]
Despite these challenges, more than 28,000 children living across nine camps along the border are heading back to school.
There remains significant uncertainty around future donor support for even basic services in the camps which are home to more than 100,000 people. They live in densely packed areas consisting mostly of wooden homes set on hills and dotted along narrow and muddy roads cutting through jungle-clad countryside a stone's throw from Thailand's border with Myanmar.
Some residents in the camps have been living there since the 1980s. They are not legally permitted to work in Thailand and so are largely reliant on aid organisations.
Tida*, who was born in Mae La and has studied at schools in the camp since she was 5, said:
"Over the past month there hasn't been enough food. The amount of food that we've been given has decreased. I used to take food to school and eat it with my friends … Normally we eat rice and chicken. There was more chicken before."
Cherry*, 8, and her mother Su*, 33, are busy navigating the narrow, muddy roads inside Mae La camp to stock up on supplies for Cherry's first day of school but her mother worries about how the family will stay afloat.
Su* said:
"Because of the food (allowance) cuts we must find more work. We have many children in our family to support. My sister must sell vegetables to find more income for her family. I'm worried."
Save the Children and its partners play a crucial role in supporting education in the camps by providing teacher training, teaching materials and paying for the salaries of about 800 teachers inside the camps as well as supporting school renovations and the design of the school curriculum.
Save the Children is calling on donors to ensure children living and learning in the Thai-Myanmar refugee camps are not forgotten, and that their educational and livelihood needs are met through diverse streams of funding and new donor commitments.
Guillaume Rachou, the Executive Director of Save the Children Thailand, said:
"Education is not something that is nice to have. It's a must have and a basic right. Education gives children hope, a future and a foundation when they've lost everything else. When we ask children and their parents in the camps what is important to them, they mention food cuts, but they also overwhelmingly worry about the schools closing. The two go hand in hand. Children need to feed their bellies and their minds."
Save the Children has worked in Thailand since 1979. Save the Children Thailand works to support children who are most impacted by discrimination and inequality through programmes on education, child protection, livelihood and child rights governance.
