"My heart is heavy, especially for the young people who are growing up in the camp, like teenagers. When I walk through the camp and I see a lot of young people, especially students, I feel their need for rights; I feel for their futures. I think, “If I am that little girl, over the next 10 years how can I survive? How can I support myself?” 
—A member of the Karen Refugee Committee 

One crucial problem of education in the Burmese refugee camps is inclusion, which comprises the access to schools, quality and relevance of the learning experience, and equality and diversity in management structures (Bush & Diana, 2000).

It emphasizes that nondiscriminatory education framework is the right to education (Universal Declaration on Human Rights, 1949). And UNESCO also addresses the issue by highlighting that all children should have the right to receive the kind of education that does not discrimination on grounds of disability, ethnicity, religion, language, gender, capabilities and so on. Instead of discrimination, schools should value the diversity of learner and see difference as enriching rather than hindering the learning experience.

In the case of refugee camps, inclusion can be interpreted as the absence of discrimination, not concern for or attention to the diversity of educational needs among children (Oh & van der Stouwe, 2008). Inclusion doesn't focus on education for all but paying more attention to students who are vulnerable to marginalization and exclusion (UNESO, 2003). To promote these students' engagement in education, explicit educational resources and investment should be made to ensure that traditionally excluded groups are included in the educational system and their needs are accommodated. 

    1. The access to Education

Access to education refers to having the opportunity to enroll in learning programs and institutions and having physical access to buildings and other educational facilities(Oh & van der Stouwe, 2008). 

Literacy rate in the camps is estimated as 60% (TBC, 2013). One of problems in educational access lies in the disparities of educational opportunities from one camp to another. Although in some camps, such as Tak camps, Mae La, Umpiem Mai, Nu Po and Mae Sot, students can the access to higher education, education is unattainable for students in the more remote camps such as Lae La Oon and Ban Don Yang. For example, the Australian Catholic University (ACU) in Mae Sot offers a diploma in Liberal Studies and some other schools include the Wide Horizons and Minmahaw GED Programs in Mae Sot, English Immersion Program in Umpiem Mai, and Global Border Studies Program in Nu Po. However, many young people have no means to get higher education in their remote refugee camps and many of them end up doing their family business such as working as a hairdresser in the camps. When things get worse, some of them turn to drugs and alcohol, or even commit suicide because of the loss of hope for the future (Purkey, 2006). 

Another problem is that refugee students are excluded from educational opportunities that are available to local Thai students. Because Thai government only intends to provide Burmese refugees a temporary shelter, it makes public schooling inaccessible to refugee students and acclaims that refugees occupy a particular administrative status that is only valid within the camps. If they get any chance to leave the camps, they become illegal migrants and are permitted to enroll in Thai public school, so that the access to education for refugees is confined in the camps. 

    2. Quality and Relevance of Education
 

In spite of gaining physical access to educational facilities, many factors, including individuals' background, will greatly impact educational attainment and academic outcomes. Oh and van der Stouwe (2008) divided factors influencing whether students are able to fully engaged in the classroom into two levels: individual level and program/institutional level. The former refers to individuals’ own background, such as available resources, motivation and knowledge. The latter refers to structure, curriculum, teaching practice, school culture, and so on. 

       >>>Interaction between education and ethnicity/religion

Based on school culture, they identifies the influence of ethnicity and religion on students. Living together with different groups in the same environment creates possibilities for intergroup interaction and social integration. Although intergroup interactions can create diverse experiences for students and teach them how to deal with ethnic and religious issues in a harmonious way, ethnicity and religions can also cause problems at school, such as bringing religious and ethnic conflicts to learning by victimizing minority group members and segregating students based on religious and ethnic backgrounds. However, education that may be hindered by religious and ethnic conflicts can play a crucial role in refugee situations by improving intergroup attitudes and interactions. Positive education can create a tolerate climate by teaching students to respect differences and deal with them with an appropriate way. For Burmese refugees in the ethnically and religiously diverse camps, how to teach students to deal with ethnic and religious differences is a crucial part of education, which contributes to a peaceful environment in the camps and after their return to Burma. And because of the isolation in the camps, teachers and students don't have access to the outside world and different perspectives, the recognition of diversity by education is key to promote students' attitudes and behaviors toward out-group members. But at the same time, education can function as a two-edged sword if students are taught with values that are not useful decrease ethnic and religious tensions, which exacerbates intergroup hostility and prejudice. Therefore, whether education is used as a weapon in cultural repression for hatred and segregation or a tool for peace promotion remains a big challenge for Burmese refugee education. 

       >>>Curriculum and Language

According to UNHCR report on challenges of refugee education, “The inherently political nature of the content and structures of refugee education can exacerbate societal conflict, alienate individual children, and lead to education that is neither of high quality nor protective” ( Dryden-Peterson, 2011). The content of what is included in curriculum shapes what children will learn and how they think about themselves and imagine the future both for themselves and their society. However, in burmese refugee camps in Thailand, freedom of speech and learning is as limited as their physical movement. It is barely possible for teachers and students to challenge the official version of the Burmese history and talk about negative aspects of refugee policy of Thai government (Oh, van der Stouwe, 2008), which large restricts students’ understanding of what have happened in their home country and what is happening in their host country from a balanced perspectives. In addition, whether students follow curriculum of host country is another issues. Although it helps with the process of local integration, to what degree knowledge and skills based on situations of host country can contribute to learning and working after repatriation creates the gap between learning in camps and adapting to life in host countries. 

Meanwhile, learning in mother tongue is the foundation for understanding learning materials. Although in camps, different languages may be used, the official language is based on the population of ethnic groups. A challenge for language of instruction in refugee education is that even within one ethnic group, people speak different languages let alone people from different groups. For example, the official spoken language of instruction in mainstream schools in Karen camps is Skaw Karen, while other people may speak Pwo Karen and Burmese instead (Oh, van der Stouwe, 2008). Using Skaw Karen for teaching excuse all non-Skaw Karen speakers student so that they have to look for schools which can meet their language requirement. But some Burmese-language muslim schools are quite underdeveloped and offer different curriculum for students, which creates inequitable educational access and quality for people from different groups. Meanwhile, although providing separate education for people speaking different languages brings some benefits, parallel provision, in the long run, may raise serration and prejudice rather than diversity and understanding.  In addition, some textbooks are written in English while both teachers and children have problems to use.

• Higher Education and Recognition of Certification