Our school is situated in Nong Bwa village on the Thai-Burma border, approximately 4 km away from Mae Sot, Thailand. After the military in Burma took power in 1988, the country faced economic, social, and healthcare challenges. Consequently, many people in the country moved to Thailand and settled in Nong Bwa village by the end of the 1990s. The number of Burmese migrant people has been increasing every year, but there were no schools to provide education to the migrant children in the village.
To educate the migrant children, New Blood School was established by Mr. Zaw Lwin Oo (current school’s Director) and Naw Mar Aye (co-founder, current Principal) in 2003. Originally, there were only three teachers, and Mr. Zaw Lwin Oo served as both the Principal and Director of the school, which started with 45 students and 4 classrooms in October 2003. At that time, the program served children from Nursery to Standard Four and did not receive support from any NGOs, leading to continuous problems and difficulties.
In 2005, after the school received support from an NGO, New Blood Boarding was established and began providing disadvantaged children with proper nurture, nutrition, shelter, clothing, medical care, and security in addition to their continuing education. As the number of migrant students increased year by year, the school also had to provide higher education grade levels for the students. Therefore, the school provided a primary education level and formally became a primary school in 2005. As the school continued to grow and improve, a high school education program was introduced to the migrant children at New Blood School in 2009.
In 2013, the school joined Burma’s official education system (Matriculation Program), the official General Educational Development (GED) international education program, and the Thai School program. From 2003 to 2020, over 70 students successfully finished the Matriculation Program, and some completed the GED program. Many of these students are now graduates, and some are still studying in and out of the country.
During the school years from 2003 to 2022, the school progressed year after year and sent approximately 80 students to universities in Myanmar and another 20 students to international universities. From 2020 until mid-2021, the school could not be opened due to the outbreak of Covid-19, but we still trained 47 students preparing for the GED class, all of whom passed their rigorous examinations, thereby earning their GED diplomas. Almost all of the 47 students are the children of migrant workers who have been living on the Thai-Myanmar border for at least 4 years. Some of them are orphans who have been living at the boarding house since they were very young.
Due to the 2021 military coup in Burma, many students, both local students and newly-fled students from Myanmar, have enrolled in our GED and Pre-GED classes. There are now over 200 students in GED and pre-GED classes. Our fresh GED graduates are now helping us teach the new students. Moreover, we now have over 200 boarding house students who are taught day and night by the teachers who lay their lives on the line for the students.
Mr. Zaw Lwin Oo is still serving as the Director of New Blood School, and Naw Mar Aye is the school’s Principal. The youngest students are aged 5, and the oldest students are around 20 years old, with a few students slightly above that age range. The school takes all the responsibilities for the educational processes for the students.