The Thai Red Cross Society has expressed concerns about the impact of COVID that is stopping children going to school, assigning provincial Red Cross chiefs to visit and supervise local educational agencies.
Director of the Thai Red Cross Chapters Administration Office, Krisada Boonrat, said that the four missions of the Thai Red Cross comprise medical services, blood services, relief work and improving people’s quality of life. As the Covid-19 situation has remained worrisome, school closures and semester postponements have affected children, especially elementary school students who are learning the Thai language, which is a fundamental subject that will help them develop their learning in other academic areas.
In order to improve the quality of daily life, the Thai Red Cross Society has issued a letter to the chiefs of local Thai Red Cross offices in the provinces, to assist children and youths in their areas regarding the educational issue as follows.
- Provincial Thai Red Cross chiefs shall coordinate with local education departments to learn the number of target students in Grade 1 to Grade 6 who have problems in speaking, reading and writing Thai, and identify the schools they are attending so that provincial Thai Red Cross offices can formulate an assistance plan.
- The Thai Red Cross Society is now working with central education departments to create a Thai language teaching guide for volunteer teachers who know the Thai language, so that they can use the manual in teaching the target students. Copies will be sent to provincial Thai Red Cross offices, and they can use their budget or a donation to make more copies for distribution to schools in their areas.
- In the meantime, the provincial Thai Red Cross chiefs will visit local schools in their areas. If any school is found to be in need of essential infrastructure such as a water supply, water filters, roads to school, an electricity or solar cell system, or an internet or wireless network (Wi-Fi) system, or is found to be in damaged condition, the chiefs shall coordinate and ask the relevant authorities to consider correcting the situation. The chiefs may invite people of faith to provide help and support to the schools in the form of donations to repair such utilities, and report to the Thai Red Cross Society in order to coordinate with other central agencies for further action.
- As for provincial Thai Red Cross offices that have enough budget, the offices shall coordinate with heads of educational institutions in their areas to provide Thai language learning materials, equipment, and necessities for students whose families have insufficient income. The assistance will be in a form of an educational relief bag to be distributed to the target students to aid their studies. (NNT)
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