"Moo Baan Dek is a living alternative education and a community. Its environment is arranged to help poor children from even the most difficult backgrounds to learn to love themselves and society. The children learn from nature and their immediate environment. They grow up in a warm and loving atmosphere in which they find understanding and freedom plentiful. Their learning can take place at any corner of this natural school, 70% of which is covered with cultivable land and forest, and is not confined to small classrooms. The school's underlying philosophy is very close to that of A.S. Neill's Summerhill School in England, although Buddhist elements are incorporated. At Moo Baan Dek, children can choose whether or not to attend class or any activities. Most major decision making is collectively made through the School Council meeting, which takes place on Friday afternoons. The school is privately run on donation from individuals in Thailand through the Foundation for Children. We provide everything basics free of charge for these poor children."
Founded in 1979, Moo Baan Dek, or Children's Village School was located on Kwae Noi River (the River Kwai); Tasao Sub-district, Sai Yoke District, Kanchanaburi. It moved to the present location on the bank of Kwae Yai River, Wangdong Sub-district, Muang, Kanchanaburi in the 1985. The 80 acres (app. 32 ha) of land was donated by Chinda Iam-Chamriang Foundation, and the construction of initial buildings was funded by Foundation for Children.
Registered with the Ministry of Education, the school provides education from kindergarten through to sixth grade for orphans and children from poor or broken families as young as three years old. After sixth grade, children are encouraged and supported to further their high school education with the Informal Education Program of the Ministry of Education which makes them eligible to take the entrance examination to study in universities. Apart from this, under the Latya Garden Home Project, the children are also provided with vocational and artistic workshops, i.e. ceramic molding, batik and dressmaking, weaving, electronics, etc.
Moo Baan Dek is a project under the Foundation for Children, a registered non-profit Thai organization. Children here are provided with free education and accommodation. The costs are covered by donations from within Thailand and abroad through various programs, i.e., the Birthday Meal Program, sponsorship, etc. Funds for building construction are mostly from individuals and organizations in Japan,i.e. UNESCO. Other funding organizations and individuals are for example, Partage Foundation (France), CCFD (France), and Thai residents in Europe and America.
The students are from poor and/or abusive family backgrounds. Their families live under the poverty line set by the United Nations, and are not able to provide a healthy environment in which the children will be able to grow to their full potential.
The atmosphere and the educational curriculum here are designed with consideration of distinctive backgrounds of the children. It is believed that by setting a natural environment equipped with loving kindness, forgiveness, freedom, sympathy, and encouragement, the children's emotional stresses and behavioral deviations can be healed. Children's basic needs are also guaranteed. This helps them feel more secure, and able to effectively mature.
When first admitted into the school, the children are allowed to work on their emotional stresses and their repressed feelings resulting from their harsh living conditions in their earliest years. By giving them a chance to naturally express themselves, the children will be able to adapt themselves in a new society with a growing healthy personality regardless of the previous cultural values imposed on them.
Staff
There are about 20 full-time staff at Moo Baan Dek. About half are teachers, and the rest work as social workers, administrative staff, accounts, etc. We have volunteers from time to time to teach, and to organize additional activities for children.
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Real Life at Moo Baan Dek is so far the only English publication about the community.It contains both voices from inside --founders', teachers', children', and from outside -- the press's. To purchase, please visit Foundation for Children, or contact us