General Prayut Chan-ocha, Prime Minister, presided over the fund awarding ceremony to support youth education from the PTT Virtual Run activity under the “Breath for Children Project” of PTT Public Company Limited (PTT). Professor Dr. Tosaporn Sirisumpun, Chairman of the Board of PTT, presented a sum of 151 million baht to Associate Professor Dr. Daranee Uthairatanakit, Executive Director of the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), to restore educational opportunities for children and youths in transition who are at risk of dropping out of the education system in the 2022 academic year so that the children and youths are able to return to the system for continuity of education. On this occasion, Mr. Supattanapong Punmeechaow, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy; Ms. Treenut Thienthong, Minister of Education; Mr. Atikom Terbsiri, Chief Operating Officer of Upstream Petroleum and Gas Business Group, PTT Public Company Limited; and Dr. Kraiyos Patrawat, Manager of the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), attended the ceremony at the Government House.
General Prayut Chan-ocha, Prime Minister, praised the operators of the Breath for Children Project, which is considered a good role model for the business sector in supporting and promoting education for youth because education is the cornerstone that leads the country towards sustainable development. The Prime Minister also thanked the people from all sectors for making this social project rapidly succeed. The Prime Minister believes that public–private sector cooperation will be able to improve the quality of education in Thailand because education is the cornerstone of the country.
“I have to convey the matter of mobilizing resources for education to other agencies. We will be able to make more use of what we have because the number of people who need support is huge. The part we have allocated is not much, so we would like to ask for cooperation from all sectors. I believe the state enterprises and business sector already have scholarships. You can fulfill the Equitable Education Fund in another way, it will increase the cost that will be sent to children. It is helping the government, helping the nation, helping our families in the future,” said General Prayut.
Mr. Atikom Terbsiri, Chief Operating Officer of Upstream Petroleum and Gas Business Group, PTT Public Company Limited, said that today’s donation of 151 million baht to support education was made possible by the support of the people in the PTT Virtual Run Phase 1, which started on May 15, 2022, onwards. This activity received a lot of attention from people across the country. In just six days, participants can accumulate a walking distance of up to 600,000 kilometers, which quickly brought more than 60,000 children and young people back into the education system as targeted and resulted in the fund awarding ceremony to support youths today. There are now more than 80,000 people participating in the activity.
“However, the PTT Virtual Run Activity under the Breath for Children Project has continued in Phase 2 until June 30 to form a fund to help another group of children and youths who need to leave the education system under an emergency case. All participants can also win souvenirs. The details of this activity are available on the website at www.breathforchildren.com,” said Mr. Atikom.
According to Dr. Kraiyos Patrawat, Manager of the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), one of EEF’s key policies is to bring all sectors, whether government, private, or civil society, to drive sustainably reducing educational inequality in accordance with the All for Education strategy. In this regard, the Breath for Children Project will be an important resource for 60,000 children and families in crisis to be able to alleviate the burden of expenses related to education. Although it is not a large amount of money, it is enough to help keep this group of young people in the education system.
EEF has also carried out the mission of the Bring Children Back to School Project, which the Prime Minister assigned to 14 agencies, including EEF, to find and follow up children who have dropped out of the education system, as well as promoting participation from all sectors to bring the children back to the education system. From following up the data of EEF and related agencies for 3 consecutive years, it was found that the highest period that students dropped out of the education system was in the transition of the school year, between May and June of each year. Therefore, EEF, in cooperation with the six educational agencies, surveyed the risks of exiting from the education system of the extra-poor households with an average income of about 1,094 baht per person/month or an average of 30–40 baht per day only.
“EEF will use this donation of 151 million baht to help extend the Breath for Children Project in various areas across the country. June 10, 2022, is the closing date for individual student information reporting systems of all educational institutions. It is another important moment to help identify the most current help for youths in crisis who will exit the education system in all their affiliations.” Dr. Kraiyos said.
