Global Development Network Corporation

Making a Profound Impact through the Tutorial Learning Center

                In May of 2011 the Global Development Network/Sustainable Development Research Foundation partnership launched a quality education initiative designed to impact positively the marginalized youth of Baw Klua district in the remote northern Nan Province of Thailand.  Youth in this area are deprived of good educational resources and cannot compete with youth from other areas of the country for the ongoing benefits of education beyond the 9th grade. 

                Offering at-risk youth life-changing choices is critical in that alternatives are provided which allow youth to stay clear of sweat shops and brothels in Bangkok where so many flock to in hopes of a different life only to be caught in the throes of disillusion and decay.   The Tutorial Learning Center (TLC) was established on the site of SDRF’s Center for Sustainable Development and is designed to provide the youth a tutorial learning system that will enable them to compete successfully for ongoing study through the end of high school within and beyond the Baw Klua district.  TLC works with existing educational learning structures in the district by augmenting course offerings such as computer literacy and English language acquisition.  Students participate in agricultural projects as part of their community life and gain important skill sets.  In addition, TLC also focuses on helping youth to make applications to and be accepted by universities and technological schools beyond the Baw Klua area following their completion of high school.  Students are also exposed to a loving Christian environment.

                To overcome the impediments of distance and lack of housing, TLC provides dormitories and proper supervision of youth at the Center for Sustainable Development.  Eighteen students were enrolled in the 2011-2012 academic year with the hopes of expanding to thirty for the present academic year.  The GDN/SDRF partnership hopes to develop the capacity to host 100 students in the years to come.

                TLC is seeking sponsorship of each of its students in order to sustain this educational initiative.  The goal for each student is $45.00 per month.  Supporters will receive a biography of their sponsored students and will receive quarterly updates on the TLC community in which the student lives.