Nam Ton Watershed

All villages within the Nam Ton Watershed have access to basic, primary education. There are more than 4000 students from 38 villages attend primary schools. Poor communities don’t see the important to school because their children should assist families in household and agriculture labour and finally leave school before completion.  The next table shows the illiteracy rate by age group.

There are totally 5 secondary schools within the Nam Ton watershed which located in Ban Phialat, Ban Pak Ton, Ban Nalat, Ban XO and Nam Sang area. The school fees for secondary school are affordable for most families but other cost is prohibited such as the living cost, traveling cost, etc. The families living far from school should pay for meal and housing for children who attend school while they have to work harder and no labour for agricultural work. For six years, the Mennonite Central Committee has carried out a Global Family Programwhich seeks to enable selected primary school children of low-income families to attendschool by providing school materials and a bicycle. This program is overseen jointly bythe Sangthong Department of Education and MCC.