Food Cuts And An Earthquake Bring Double The Devastation For Children In Thai Refugee Camps

Food cuts this month and an earthquake that has devastated Myanmar and parts of Thailand will exacerbate living conditions for more than 110,000 refugees living along the Thai-Myanmar border and could force some children out of school, Save the Children said.

Due to budget shortfalls, The Border Consortium (TBC), a government and non-government organisation funded provider of food assistance for refugees living on the border, has said it will have to reduce food support this month, affecting more than 80% of families in nine camps. [1]

The situation inside the camps was already dire, with schools saying limited funding was leaving them unable to pay some teachers or repair school structures [2] ahead of the new academic year starting next month.

Now, parents struggling to put food on the table are being forced to make impossible choices, with many considering pulling their children out of school to help earn money or support the family’s basic needs.

With school fees now falling more heavily on parents, many families can no longer contribute towards school running costs, deepening the financial crisis for schools and risking the collapse of basic education services inside the camps.

"Even if you are not educated, everyone has to eat," said Saw Paw, the parent of one refugee student. "Livelihood comes first now."

Many teachers in the camps are refugees themselves and some have had to seek work outside the camps to support their families.

Thant Zin-, a teacher who lives inside the camps, said: "I can’t buy a sack of rice with the total amount my family receives through the food card support system. I have children, and to ensure they have food every day, I may have to give them porridge instead of rice a few days a week."

Guillaume Rachou, Executive Director, Save the Children (Thailand) Foundation said:

"Save the Children, along with local partners, is assessing the safety of school structures following the 28 March earthquake including in 58 schools inside the refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border.

"We must ensure schools, teachers and students in the camps are prepared to respond to natural hazards and mitigate their impact."

The death toll from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar has risen to more than 2,000 with nearly 4,000 injured, according to the country’s state television channel MRTV, although these numbers are likely to rise as rescue efforts continue. In Thailand, at least 20 people have died and several buildings across the capital Bangkok have been deemed unsafe.

Save the Children supports 28,000 children living across nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. It is also responding to the mental health and well-being of Thai and Burmese teachers and their families across Thailand following the earthquake.

The child rights organisation is calling on donors to ensure children in these refugee camps are not forgotten in earthquake response and recovery efforts. Urgent humanitarian aid-including food, education, infrastructure, and psychosocial support-is critical to their recovery.

Save the Children has worked in Thailand since 1979 and works to support children who are most impacted by discrimination and inequality through programmes on education, child protection, livelihood and child rights governance.

Notes

[1] https://www.theborderconsortium.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Reduction-statement-revised-V4.jpg

[2] https://www.savethechildren.net/news/there-wall-between-us-new-school-year-begins-thailand-funding-shortages-hinder-education

About Save the Children NZ:

Save the Children works in 120 countries across the world. The organisation responds to emergencies and works with children and their communities to ensure they survive, learn and are protected.

Save the Children NZ currently supports international programmes in Fiji, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Laos, Nepal, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Areas of work include child protection, education and literacy, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, and alleviating child poverty.

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