Project Borderlands, SMU’s very own refugee education model, cordially invites you to our 2017 Symposium, from 1pm to 3pm, on 12 May at Singapore Management University School of Social Sciences, Seminar Room 5-2. Join us to learn the latest updates on refugee crises around the world, the Karen people on the Thai-Burma border, and Project Borderland’s innovative efforts to promote sustainability in refugee education.
Project Borderlands partners with the Capacity Building for People from Uprooted Communities (CBPUC) Training Centre in Huai Malai, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand, developing and executing their Teacher Training Program. It began as part of the course, Global Migration and Human Security, employing the SMU-X pedagogy of real-world learning and application. Launched in 2015, the model is one professor teaches 9-12 SMU students in Singapore; 2-3 students go to Thailand to teach 23-26 Karen refugee teacher trainees; and every year 13 trained Karen teachers go back to their camps and villages, educating more than 500 Karen students.
Unfortunately, the overall refugee situation remains alarming; there are still around 120,000 Karen refugees still living in camps in Thailand. Many others live outside the camps with travel restrictions and limited access to social services. While foreign donors have provided much aid to the Karen people, Myanmar’s ongoing democratic transition has seen many of these funds diverted to the capital. Education in the borderlands has thus suffered from shrinking resources.
In response to this development, Project Borderlands 2017 has begun a new project, the Teaching Fellowship Programme, to train CBPUC students to take over teaching duties at the center. Do join us at the 2017 Refugee Education Symposium, where a team of nine students will introduce the programme for policy-makers, academics, educators and potential donors in Singapore.
