Container School: Opportunity and Social Equity for Marginal Migrant Children in T.T.S. Engineering (2004) Co., Ltd.’s Construction Site Camps

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to study: 1) the status of migrant children living in construction site camps and the extent to which they have access to basic rights, 2) the process and role of the container school in creating opportunities and social justice for construction site camp children, 3) the ways in which specific opportunities and social justice were created for migrant children in construction site camps. Using a qualitative research methodology, consisting of interviews, participatory observation and the non-participatory observation technique for data collection, we focused on a target group of people involved with a specific container school T.T.S. Engineering (2004) Co., Ltd.’s Construction Site Camps. Our study found that children in the Construction Site Camp originated from many areas of Cambodia and as a group, had only limited access to basic rights in Thailand. The Container School offered helpful opportunities and social justice in 3 areas: 1) Not only education in Thai language and transitioning children into the state education system but also training skills are focused on enabling children to better live with others in society. 2) Health was emphasized in terms of providing preventative health knowledge and coordinating with local public health agencies to ameliorate the lack of health insurance. 3) Safe social space; the physical protection provided by the school ensured physical and mental safety for children and delayed the age in which children entered the labor force.

Keywords: a container school, social equity, marginal children, construction site