Educators tutor older students in Mon language

(Kaowao, January 21, 2006)

 Sangkhalaburi -- The Mon refugee community recently celebrated the graduation of some of their older students who completed a two-month learning the basics in Mon language course at Halockanee refugee camp along with the camp children.

“I was surprised to see older people join the language classes despite putting in a full day’s work on their farms’ said Ms Aie Sorn, secretary and educator of the Mon Youth Progressive Organization who sponsored the class. 

‘Every day they set off to work collecting branches in the early morning, then weave and bind brooms in the evening, then after they would come to our class to learn Mon, their mother tongue. The class begins in the late evening to accommodate people who work during the day’ said a source from the camp. 

‘In our class of 33 students, there are only a small number of males, 75 percent are women and the remaining are men’ said the teacher. The three trainers also provide companionship and support to the older students ‘only a few can read and write in Burmese, but all express a desire to learn to read and write in their mother tongue’ explained one of the tutors. 

Coordinator for the group, Miss Mi Morh said she wants equal access for men and women to learn Mon and English, but is unable to find more men, both young and old. “We also don’t have enough books and other school supplies, we should be able to accommodate more students from the surrounding area’ she explained. 

‘We are not blind or illiterate in our language now, we can read and write a little now’ said a recent graduate who spoke at the closing ceremony Jan 15. 

“Men feel responsible for their families and that may explain why some don’t attend the free classes, though many are busy working’ noted Sorn. ‘But most of the students want to continue with their studies and will return for more classes’ she added. 

‘All the students have high expectations of us, we are seen as a sort of recovery strategy in which they can gain control of their lives’ pointed out Sorn. 

Education has been an important part of refugee assistance in the Mon camps, Halocknee refugee serves 3 villages.  ‘I’ve been trying to get more elderly men involved’ Sorn said. For many students, learning Mon and English were cited as the most important need and the Mon women group at the border have set up another six-month English class inside southern Mon State along the border.