The study of ‘out-of-school’ children and youth situations for developing a lifelong education model for ‘out-of-school’ children and youth

Department of Lifelong Education, Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

^a Corresponding author: Pattra.V@Student.chula.ac.th

Abstract

According to UNESCO, the number of ‘out-of-school’ children and youth in Thailand is the fifth in Asia and second in ASEAN. Currently, the accumulated number is about 1.7 million people. The purposes of this research are to study ‘out-of-school’ children and youth situations and method of education provided for them from the related organizations and networks. The results of this study reveal that the problems of the ‘out-of-school’ children and youth include low quality of life, lack of life skills and social skills, and behavior problems. The causes are poverty, low achievement in school, and behavior issues which cause dismissal from school. What needs to be provided for them from related organizations are a suitable system of education and vocational skills training. The activities provided by related organizations can be categorized as 1) life skills, social skills and self-esteem enhancement activities 2) funding and resources, which help to open up educational opportunities, and 3) the development of local mechanism to develop them in each area.