Professional Contacts From Around the World
I was looking forward to
making personal contact with early childhood professionals outside of the
United States; however, after contacting several people I know who live in other
countries, I have been unable to establish contact with anyone who could help
with my assignment for class. This is a disappointing turn of events, but I
guess this means I will need to follow the instructions for the alternative
assignment.
I am still holding out hope that I will hear back from a
teacher in Thailand, so I chose to explore the information available from the
World Forum about that country. Thailand has actively been addressing the issue
of poverty over the past 40 years. Overall poverty levels have dropped from 21%
in 2000 to 8.5% in 2007. The numbers specifically ascribed to the children of
Thailand have dropped from 38.7% in 1990 to 10.3% in 2007 (World Forum
Foundation).
One thing that may be partially responsible for the drop in the
children’s numbers is that there are fewer children in the population.
According to the report, the reproduction rate has dropped from 45.1 % in 1970
to 22% in 2007. The prediction made by the World Forum was that it would drop
even further by 2011 to about 20%. These numbers are significant because the
report pointed out that larger families are more likely to suffer from poverty. Also, the country's leaders realize that this drop in numbers will affect the country's future; this realization has caused a greater focus on the education of the children.
Anita,
ReplyDeleteThe facts that you provided about Thailand are very interesting. The decline in population is surprising to me, because although families struggle with poverty in the US, most often these are the families that have a lot of children. With Thailand, it seems as though they should be concerned with the future of the country, if the reproduction rates continue to decrease.
Thanks for sharing your professional contacts this week. From the practical experience now we kinder know that it is important but also not always easy to connect with someone who is also work in the field in the other region. You mentioned that the children’s numbers is decreasing in the population of Thailand. I think another reason for this situation happening is the health condition. As the report mention the sanitary situation in certain slum type household in Thailand is very poor. Children are in need of getting fully immunizing services. The good news is the government now concerns more on the issue of child poverty and trying to give solution on the child education and development.
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