The government daycare center where a gunman killed more than 30 people, including more than 20 children, on Thursday is in a poor area of Thailand where most preschoolers attend such facilities.
The According to Unicef, the United Nations children’s agency, the Child Development Center Uthaisawan in the northeastern province of Nong Bua Lamphu is one of some 20,000 early childhood development centers run by local authorities across the country. The centers are free and serve around 860,000 children between the ages of 3 and 5, Unicef said.
Nationally, 84% of children in this age group attended one of the centers in 2012, up from 60% in 2005, according to a recent UNICEF report. By 2019, the figure had risen to 86%.
But attendance is not mandatory and varies by region. In the northeast in 2019, for example, the attendance rate was 92%. In Bangkok, the capital, it was 71%.
Napat Phisanbut, an early childhood development specialist at Unicef’s Thailand office, said the high rate in the northeast could be linked to another statistic: the same region also has the highest rate of children living apart from their parents, many of whom migrate for work. in the towns.
“The children live with their grandparents,” she said. “Thus, ECD centers can help care for these young children and provide the appropriate development they need.”
Kyungsun Kim, Unicef’s representative for Thailand, condemned the attack in a statement on Thursday evening.
“Early childhood development centers, schools and all learning spaces must be safe havens for young children to learn, play and grow during their most critical years,” she said.