The school was one of 10 Burmese migrant learning centres closed as a result of the 24 August arrest and deportation of 32 Burmese teachers by Thai officials.

News of their reopening on a part-time basis was confirmed on Monday, by Fr Frank Bird, the Director of the Marist Asia Foundation.

"We have our school programme operating because the Marist Asia Foundation is a registered foundation and we have international volunteers and Thai staff", Frank Bird said.

At present, the school is the only migrant learning centre able to open.

It re-opened after conducting a risk re-assessment and determining that by using only Thai and International volunteers the threat risk was "low".

In making the decision to re-open, the Marist Asia Foundation decided that as well as catering for its secondary school students, the school would welcome students from other secondary schools to come and sit their exams.

"We want to show the students our care and support", said Frank Bird.

"We don't want them to miss out on the opportunity."

While the school has some surplus capacity, it worked in co-operation with a local monastery to provide space for students to sit their exams.

Like others in the region, the Marist Asia Foundation laments its inability to reintroduce its Burmese teachers into their classrooms.

"We feel deeply the pain and anxiety of the Burmese Migrant Community as their children are not able to attend school and their own teachers are not allowed to teach", says Frank Bird.

The Thai Government considers the Burmese learning centres as illegal and their Burmese teachers are also illegal. It is a situation that has been permitted for the past 15-20 years.

While the students are not at school, they are either unsafely wandering the streets, locked up at home while their parents go to work, or follow their parents to work in the unsafe fish and charcoal factories.

Source

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• Image: Supplied

In June 2007, my Mother asked me to study in Ranong. The head teacher of Soi-jet Learning Center sent me to join English class at Ranongthani Learning Center which Marist Asia FoundaNon
provided.

In 2008, I studied at Marist Asia Foundation. In that year my mother asked me to work but I do not want to work. I said to my mother that I am too young to work and I want to study more.

She asked me to choose between education and Mother. She gave me two choices to choose. If I study, she will not allow me to call her Mother. I am allowed to call her Mother if I work. I did not know what to choose but I went to school as usual.

One day my Mother told me that I am giving more importance to an education than the Mother. At
that moment I did not know what should I say. Should I need to say sorry to her or not? Then I immediately told my Mother please let me study, I will not ask for pocket money, I will not ask for new uniforms or stationeries. I told her that I will help myself.

One day my parents separated and my Mother go away from home. We all have to live with our
Father. From that day I have to take care of my sister and my brother.

My sister and I have to work on weekends and take care of the house. Even though I live with my father, I go to school everyday. I keep in my mind that only education can change my life in the future.

After I finished year 4, Teacher Irene from Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) offered me a job to teach at Bangklang Learning Center.

My first day of work was great because I joined Ngao Learning Center's parents' meeting and I started to learn more about migrant families. Now I am a teacher as I wish and helping my own people in Ranong.

• Thu Thu Mon is a Burmese Migrant in Ranong on the Thailand / Burma Border. As well as teaching, she is a student in the ACU University Online Diploma Programme.
• www.maristasiafoundation.org