Fight School Drop Out In Rural Myanmar

It is a real challenge for children in Tedim to go to school.

This child sponsorship is a unique opportunity for these children to be educated.  Sponsor a child in Tedim and give them a better future.

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TEDIM, A PROVINCIAL TOWN IN MYANMAR

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is in South East Asia. Myanmar is divided into seven states, populated mainly by ethnic minorities.

Children of the Mekong recently opened a new sponsorship programme in Tedim, a provincial town located in the Chin Mountains in Western Myanmar. Tedim is the biggest town in the north, it is the political and commercial centre for the surrounding villages. The Tedim district (the town itself, plus around 50 neighbouring villages) has a population of 95,254 inhabitants.

Most people in Tedim district rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Everything is still done by hand, there is no mechanisation. The town is located on a plateau that is difficult to access, in a very mountainous region.

Myanmar Map - Tedim

THE CHALLENGES OF EDUCATION IN A MOUNTAINOUS REGION

Girls' study room in Tedim
Girls’ study room in Tedim

The lack of irrigation, the fields steepness and high number of children per family are a few difficulties among many others faced by the population in this rural region of Myanmar. A high proportion of children are not pursuing education. This can be explained by various reasons including:

  • difficult access to infrastructure,
  • a lack of involvement and/or means of parents in their children’s education
  • and above all, as children might have to work rather than study in order to bring food home.

To complicate matters further, the whole system, from primary school to higher education, relies on a system of “tuitions”. These are additional classes offered by the regular teachers in order to top up their inadequate salaries, originally intended to provide extra support for pupils who needed it. But these days any student who does not pay for tuitions will find it impossible to pass their exams.

Parents who face an everyday struggle to feed their children cannot afford to pay for the extra classes required to give them any chance of passing the school-leaving exams, so they do not make education a priority. Children leave school as soon as they are able to start work to help support the family.

Wood house, dormitory for girls in Tedim
Dormitory for girls in Tedim

The primary objective of the programme is to ensure that the children of the poorest families in Tedim and the neighbouring villages can complete their school education.

Children of the Mekong’s mission is to help disadvantaged children by providing them with a future through education. Without your sponsorship, children from the Tedim district will most certainly miss their only chance to access education.

SPONSOR A CHILD SO HE CAN HAVE A BRIGHTER FUTURE

Children studying in Myanmar

Children from Tedim and the nearby villages are waiting to be sponsored.

They are amongst the most disadvantaged and at risk of dropping out of school because of their harsh living conditions. Some of the children live in Boarding Houses to continue their schooling, as their village is too far away from the school.

With £28 a month you are giving the opportunity to a Tedim child to be educated. Thanks to your donation he will be able to go to school instead of working or helping his family that do not have the means to pay for his education. You will change his life and also the one of his family and community. Your sponsorship helps families to keep their children in education for as long as possible. It gives the children an incredible opportunity. They benefit not only from your financial and moral support but also from the knowledge that we will do all we can to ensure that they complete their studies.

Help the children of Tedim building their future!

Sponsor a child from Tedim

Young kids in the street in Myanmar