Habib's Garden

Program Director
Sudaporn Saenkhot

Mandate
Every child must go to school.

Number of Mercy Preschools
31

Number of Students
3,900 (2007)

Community Coverage
31 poor neighborhoods in Bangkok

School Curriculum
Preparation for entering the first grade in Government sponsored state primary schools: Thai, English, arithmetic, hygiene, Thai history, folklore, dance, song, sports, and the arts.

Nutrition
All children are given a nutritious rice and vegetable and protein lunch plus afternoon snacks of milk, fruit, and protein every school day. Almost 10 percent of our incoming students are malnourished, and these children's health and weight are closely monitored throughout the school year.

A Community Partnership
The communities help construct and staff the schools located in their neighborhoods. The HDF receives a 10 to 15-baht fee from parents each school day - just a fraction (approximately 5%) of the cost of most Bangkok private preschools. The fee is waived for over 500 poor families who cannot afford it. These poorest children also receive school supplies, book bags, shoes, uniforms, etc.

Additional School Program Benefits
Our preschools are the core of our community outreach activities. HDF provides legal counseling for both parents and teachers; we initiate local credit unions and savings and loans; we work with community leaders to strengthen each neighborhood; we protect children in cases of child abuse; and coordinate with medical facilities, hospitals, police and housing authorities in emergencies.

Origins/History
We were inspired jointly by the Muslim leader Imam Haji Tolaeb and the Buddhist lay teachers Kru Sunnee Yingyoung and Kru Jamnean Jamsri who opened Bangkok's original "one baht per day schools" in the Klong Toey shantytowns. In 1973, when we opened our first one-baht-per-day preschool in the Catholic section of the Klong Toey slaughterhouse neighborhood, many people lent support. This first school, opened in 1973, was an unqualified success: all the children graduated, entered government primary schools, and continued their education. Local slum community leaders soon began asking us to open schools in their neighborhoods, and we expanded our reach. Tens of thousands of children have learned to read and write in our schools. For generations of poor children in Bangkok Slums, the Mercy Schools have become a major rite of passage in their young lives as they begin many of life's bigger lessons. Thirty-five years after opening our first school, Imam Haj Tolaeb's two daughters still teach at the largest Mercy preschool while Kru Jamnean's daughter teaches art and graphics to all of our Mercy children.

The Challenges
The government school system, which children enter at age 6, expects the child to have basic skills in reading and writing when they enter first grade. Yet, the government provides inadequate pre-schooling for the poor. Thus, when poor children enter first grade illiterate, they are doomed to academic failure.