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Karen Children Struggle to Access Education in Thailand

In the rugged highlands of Mae Hong Son, a Karen woman recalls her only classroom, a crumbling building used for informal education. With inconsistent teaching, her formal schooling ended at Grade 1; she learned little more than how to write her name. While wealthier peers moved to other districts to continue their studies, she was left behind. “I was so jealous of them,” she recalls. Her education was ultimately traded for labor….