Thai

We have established the Sikkha Asia Foundation, which undertakes library and scholarship activities, and is active as an overseas affiliated organization.

Background of Activities

Though the free education system, which ensures free education for 15 years from preschool to high school, was introduced in 2009 in Thailand, schools have a shortage of operating funds and have to collect additional school fees from parents. Parents living in rural areas with very limited economic power or in slums are burdened with educational expenses. The educational gap between cities and rural areas is also a major issue.

What We Do

In Thailand, where we have been carrying out activities since the 1980s, we established an overseas affiliated organization, the Sikkha Asia Foundation in 1991. This organization provides assistance to vulnerable people such as those living in the slums and rural areas in Thailand, ethnic minorities, and immigrant workers. In the meantime, Thailand’s economy has developed, but poverty and educational problems in slums and rural areas still remain. In order to address these issues, the Sikkha Asia Foundation was reorganized into a juridical foundation, the Sikkha Asia Foundation (SAF), in March 2015 as an independent organization in terms of not only management but also finance. We provide educational support to improve the quality of life of children and young people among the poor that live in slums and mountainous areas in Thailand.

Project to Improve Education Opportunities (Scholarships project)

SAF awards scholarships to children who have to work to help their families even when they are of school age or that cannot pay tuition, textbook fees, or school uniform fees. These scholarships are awarded not only to children living in slum areas in Bangkok, but also to Myanmar (Burmese) immigrant children in Phayao Province and Tak Province. In addition, we gather representatives of scholarship students from various regions to organize a human resource development camp which gives them an opportunity to learn about the situation not only of their own regions but also of other regions.

Improving Education Quality through Mobile Library Services

It is said that Thailand has about five million migrant workers that come from neighboring countries. Around the garbage dump in Bangkok, there are many Myanmar children who make a living by picking through garbage. Also, many Myanmar immigrant children live near the border area with Myanmar. We conduct activities to promote reading in the community through mobile library services, which allows us to visit them by mobile library van and distribute picture books to immigrant children who are stuck in a poor educational environment.

Activities So Far

We have been providing various services and activities in slum areas in the capital, Bangkok, and rural areas since the 1980s. In 1991, we established an overseas affiliated organization, the Sikkha Asia Foundation, through which we have been offering support to vulnerable people such as those living in slums and rural areas in Thailand, ethnic minorities, and immigrant workers.

Library Project for Slum Area in Bangkok
Since 1985, when we started a library project in slum areas in Bangkok, we have been promoting reading among local children and residents. Suanphlu Library was integrated into an adjacent nursery school as a school library and has been visited by many toddlers and parents.
Disaster Reconstruction Assistance in Areas Affected by the Great Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami
A massive tsunami triggered by the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, which occurred on the morning of December 26, 2004, claimed the lives of 13,000 people in Thailand.
Community Development Project in Ban Sawai
In 1984, a staff member at the time set up a library in their home and opened it to locals in Ban Sawai in northeast Thailand.

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Library Project for Slum Area in Bangkok

Since 1985, when we started a library project in slum areas in Bangkok, we have been promoting reading among local children and residents. Suanphlu Library was integrated into an adjacent nursery school as a school library and has been visited by many toddlers and parents. Its operation was transferred to an administrative agency, and the library is now run by them. For Chuaphlung　Library, which we have been operating for nearly 20 years, we are currently having discussions with the local community board to transfer its operation to an administrative agency.

Disaster Reconstruction Assistance in Areas Affected by the Great Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami

A massive tsunami triggered by the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, which occurred on the morning of December 26, 2004, claimed the lives of 13,000 people in Thailand. SVA arrived in the disaster-affected area three days later to carry out emergency relief work. After the emergency relief was completed, we established a permanent library and held a Workshop on Storytelling for local nursery staff and teachers as a regular project of SAF.
* Reconstruction assistance operations were finished at the end of 2007. The responsibility for library operation was transferred to organizations such as local governments, schools, and temples.

Community Development Project in Ban Sawai

In 1984, a staff member at the time set up a library in their home and opened it to locals in Ban Sawai in northeast Thailand. Though, at the beginning, some villagers objected that reading books would take farmers nowhere, the library gradually became a part of their life, and it was filled with children after elementary school finished each day. In the meantime, the activity that started with a small library expanded to the establishment of a nursery school and student dormitory and the provision of disability aid, eventually evolving into a community development project with the participation of residents.