Crowdfunding backs English push into rural areas

Asiola, a crowdfunding website in Thailand, has launched a campaign to help boost English education for Thai students in rural areas.

The campaign will back “English for All”, a project started by former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij, and will run from now until Nov 29, said Montonn Jira, a cofounder of Asiola.

He said anyone interested in helping can visit the “English for All” campaign page at asiola.com.

Mr Korn began “English for All” as a non-profit project funded entirely through donations three years ago. Its aim is to foster English proficiency in Thailand’s poorest areas so that underprivileged students can compete with students in the cities.

The project was given its first test at Wat Sa Pan Sam School in Phitsanulok in 2014. Since then, three Filipino teachers have been hired to teach students in Kindergarten 1 and 2 for five days a week, two hours a day.

However, the project needs funds to hire more native English teachers as the number of participating students has grown to 180. So it needs crowdfunding to raise money to give the underprivileged students a better chance in life.

“I have set a target of raising 1.4 million baht per year through this crowdfunding campaign,” Mr Korn said. “However if I can raise more than the target, the money will be distributed to other schools to improve their English teaching.

“The project, currently in its third year, attempts to narrow the existing educational gap, to ensure that all students receive free quality English education in fun and effective ways such as teaching English through songs. Teachers dance and sing with the children.”

Mr Korn said the scheme has been very successful with participating students showing marked improvement in Onet scores, especially in English.

“One time I visited the children at the school. To my surprise there were 30 to 40 parents waiting to see me. At first I thought they were parents of the children whose kids were participating in the project, but they were parents from other classes,” he said.

Wat Sa Pan Sam School has two kindergarten classrooms, with one being in the control group. The parents who were waiting for him had children in the other classroom that was not participating in the project. They had come to plead for an opportunity for their kids to participate in the “English for All” project, he added.

“What happened reinforced my belief that one’s ability to learn and grow depends on the opportunity one receives. Everybody can learn if she/he has the opportunity to do so,” he said.

Kanathip Suthornruk, a well-known English tutor who supports “English for All’’, said Thai schools in general use wrong methods to teach English as they start with writing skills then go on to reading, speaking and listening.

“That’s why many Thai pupils who get good grades in English exams cannot really communicate in English. What we should do is to make it about face, because if they can listen and understand, they will be able to speak and then read and write at the end,’’ he said.

Mr Kanathip said he fully supported the crowdfunding campaign as it could change the way Thai people learn English and be a role model for other schools.

Mr Montonn said Asiola was the first crowdfunding platform created for Thailand. It seeks out and welcomes individuals with positive ideas that are worth supporting, and provides a platform for them to seek public support.