The Baan Huay Hin Lad Nok Community inhabits a rural village in Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand. Like most rural communities, the nearest school is quite far. This is why the village established their own local Community School. But like most informal community schools, support for the operating costs from the Thai government is difficult, and sometimes impossible.

The school has struggled financially. In the 2016 – 2017 school year, the students were taught by volunteer teachers. Even so, the school has continued to provide quality education and the students are diligent in their studies.

This project aims to support the operating costs of the school, the salaries of the teachers and the basic materials needed for the children to receive a quality education. Furthermore, in order to sustain the project in the near to long-term, the community will revitalise their beekeeping activities. With equipment from the Wieng Papao Non-Formal and Informal Education Centre, and our support in providing the funds needed to build their capacity, their beekeeping activities can start generating income which will allow the school to run more sustainably.

The Baan Huay Hin Lad Nok Community inhabits a rural village in Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand. The Community School (BHHLNCS) was created to meet the needs specific to that environment – to have a school that isn’t too far away or difficult for the families to travel to, and to have an education programme with the needs of the community in mind. The needs of the community require more local knowledge, where the practices, traditions, skills and culture are continued. These goals both decrease the cost of education (especially due to the costs of travel), and provides an education that is useful to the local community.

Because of this, BHHLNCS is very meaningful to parents in the village. The curriculum has been developed by combining both non-formal and local education methods and knowledge. This allows the students to gain the skills and knowledge needed to advance in their education, while also passing on the knowledge of the community and the skills needed to preserve their way of life. This is done by having a local wisdom teacher offer classes to the students. These classes focus on things like agricultural practices and handicrafts.

While the Community School has received some financial support from the Wieng Papao Non-Formal and Informal Education Centre, the Sub-District Administrative Office and a small number of non-profit organisations, their ability to fully fund the operation costs of the school has been insufficient.

The goal of this project is to provide students living in the Baan Huay Hin Lad Nok village with a quality education, that provides both standard education that allows students to study at higher levels, while also teaching local skills and knowledge that is relevant to the context of the community. A secondary goal is to help build the capacity of their beekeeping project, so it generates a steady income and helps make the school more self-sustainable.