Schooling and Activism in a Zone of Exception: Migrant Learning Centres on the Thai-Burma Border

Abstract

Mae Sot has been described as a “zone of exception” in recent studies. In view of protecting state’s key interests, some laws and regulations are not applicable in the regulation of the economy, movements of people and border trade at this zone. This paper seeks to explore the feasibility of employing “zone of exception” as a concept to analyze education for migrant children in Mae Sot. Many children of the migrant communities often receive schooling from illegal learning centres. These children have thus been excluded from enjoying education rights as instituted since 2005. This paper describes the practices of local state agencies in relation to the learning centres. Such practices range from persecution to an implicit provision of a semi-legal position. At the same time, this paper demonstrates the bargaining strategies of the activist leaders from the learning centers. These activists aim to secure a space for the education of migrant children in accordance to their own cultural and political priorities. In this way the “zone of exception” can be conceptualized as a space where some of the marginalized people gain partial inclusion in the state polity. However, some children who fail to obtain adequate schooling remain excluded in important ways. This paper is based on the findings of the author’s research report which investigates the interaction and negotiation between the state policy and practice, and the ‘migrant learning centers’. This report has collected data from 12 learning centres and relevant agencies within the period from September to December 2011. Finally, this report uses interviews and non-participant observation as its main method of data-collection.