The impacts of COVID-19 and coup on Myanmar migrant children's education in Thailand

Thailand is the largest migrant destination country in Southeast Asia, hosting around 4 million labour migrants from the neighbouring countries. Myanmar migrant workers make up the highest proportion. Migrant children in Thailand are one of the most vulnerable to being out of school, alongside children with disabilities, working children and ethnic minority children. Improving migrant children’s access to education and learning outcomes is hindered by a lack of accurate data and inconsistent implementation of Thailand’s education policies concerning migrant children. Drawing on empirical data collected in six geographical regions, this chapter examines the impacts of COVID-19 on Myanmar migrant children’s education in Thailand, with prolonged closures of educational institutions disrupting student learning. In shifting to remote, home-based and online teaching and learning, educators, migrant students and caregivers have faced intersecting and compounding structural, household, and individual challenges. The military takeover of the Myanmar government in February 2021 has also had repercussions across the border for migrant families and children.