The Dek Noi Pattana Foundation (DNPF), established in November 2017, is dedicated to advancing early childhood development (ECD) in Thailand. We believe every Thai child deserves access to a high-quality ECD program, and that achieving this vision is essential for Thailand’s journey from a middle-income to a high-income country.
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“Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.”
“The best investment is in early childhood development from birth to five for disadvantaged children and their families.”
“Experts tell us that 90% of all brain development occurs by the age of five. If we don’t begin thinking about education in the early years, our children are at risk of falling behind by the time they start kindergarten.”
Huge Opportunity for ECD
Existing Strengths — many of ingredients for successful programs already in place:
- 19,000 day care/early learning centers in operation throughout Thailand; managed by local governments/Department of Local Administration
- Children reasonably well nourished and eager to learn;
- Parents, grandparents, communities and local governments supportive;
- Significant financial resources available
Challenges:
- Caretakers/teachers at centers often unaware of or don’t know how to provide high quality ECD programs;
- Challenging family situations (children being looked after by grandparents; other difficult family situations due to divorce, alcoholism, drug abuse etc) – make ECD even more important
The pilot project had the following objectives:
- Capacity building of teachers and caretakers to implement a high quality ECD programme;
- Ensure the the programme helps develop the potential of all children in an integrated manner (physical, intellectual, social and emotional development)
- Contribute to the sustainability of the programme by working with all concerned stakeholders (teachers, parents, government officials etc)
The pilot project achieved excellent results. At the end of the project and for the seventeen centers/classes benefiting from the project, the results achieved were much above those for the control group (see chart).
Surin ECD Pilot Project – Progress Report for Third Phase 2017-18
Surin ECD Pilot Project – Watch Video
Replicating and Scaling Up
- Expanding our engagement in Surin and working closely with the Education Faculty of Surindra Rajhabat University (SRRU) have now provided capacity building support to 7 centers and 31 classes.
- Working with the Education Faculty of SRU to develop model ECD centers in each district in Surin from which the other centers in the same district can learn.Expanding our engagement to other provinces, including Buri Ram, Prachin Buri and Roi Et
- Working at the national level with the Department of Local Administration of the Ministry of Interior and the National Economic and Social Development Council in support of efforts to enhance the quality of ECD across the nation.
- We are continuing our work during the COVID-19 pandemic but with a focus on on-line training and coaching of teachers and caretakers and with a special emphasis on how teachers can help parents with home-schooling.