Many youths ‘drawn into prostitution, unsafe jobs’

About 3.1 million children and youth are being left out of the country’s education system and are being drawn into major social problems including prostitution, according to the Equitable Education Fund (EEF).

The estimated number of these young people is based on recent surveys carried out by the EEF in cooperation with Save the Children, the Office of the Non-formal and Informal Education and other partners in 20 provinces.

Other than prostitution, the other two major problems facing youngsters are them becoming cheap labourers in dangerous working environments and being lured into the illicit drug trade circle, said Prof Sompong Jitradub, an adviser to the EEF’s board and director of Research Centre for Children and Youth Development at Chulalongkorn University.

“If we leave this problem without doing anything about it that will be equivalent to us pushing them into these dark circles in society,” he said.

He believes most of these children and youth who are left out of the education system actually want to become decent people and are looking for opportunities to rebuild their future through education.

After the nationwide surveys, conducted earlier this month, among these young people, the EEF and its partners are now working together to prepare for their next mission of tracking them and offering them help, said Phatthanaphong Sukmadan, an assistant manager of the EEF.

When found, those who are ready to enter the education system will get the help they need to do so, while those who aren’t yet ready will be brought into a remedial programme, he said.

Teams consisting of multi-professions responsible for handling child and youth issues will be deployed across the country to contact these 3.1 million children and youth, he said, adding that they will be handling their problems on a case-by-case basis.