For children on an island off the southern province of Ranong, going to school has become a daily adventure. For years, they have had to ride improvised rafts and wade through knee-deep water to cross a lagoon that separates their community from their school.
They were promised a bridge years ago to facilitate their travel, but what they are left with are just empty concrete columns standing idly in the water.
Now that Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin will hold his mobile Cabinet meeting in Ranong next week, the villagers of Payam Island hope that their children’s plight will finally get noticed.
The island has a population of around 200, including 50 children, who are known as Moken sea nomads and subsist mainly on fishing and selling labor.
A Thai PBS news team visited the popular tourist island early this week and witnessed how children in school uniforms struggle to get to…
