CRC/C/THA/CO/3-4 (a) Adopt effective policies and other measures to ensure that every child from birth to school going age has access to holistic early childhood development (ECD) with effective support of essential health, nutrition, education and protection services to ensure his or her total development; (b) Develop quality and internationally accepted standards of ECD that are applied by local governments that have responsibility for ECD; (c) Encourage and create incentives for children of non- Thai speaking and poor households to attend early childhood development programmes, especially children in the North Eastern and Southern regions; (d) Take urgent measures to provide educational opportunities for the large number of primary school age children (6-11 years) currently out of school; (e) Conduct a comprehensive study on the causes and extent of dropout and low retention in the education system and develop a plan of action with a clear time frame to solve the problems, paying particular attention to the gender dimensions, disparities and preventive measures; (f) Encourage children, especially boys in the southern border provinces, to continue their education in secondary schools; (g) Implement the National Language Education Policy of 2010 to ensure effective bilingual education from the early years especially for non-Thai speaking children in accordance with article 30 of the Convention; (h) Adopt clear and concrete measures to greatly improve the quality of education and improve educational outcomes at all levels, including through the provision of teaching and learning materials and facilities, enhanced teacher training and supervision, increased recruitment of qualified teachers, in particular women and persons from minority and indigenous groups, enhanced capacity building at the Ministry of Education and improved systems of monitoring of the learning of children; (i) Education. H. Consider ratifying the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Special protection measures (arts. 22, 30, 38, 39, 40, 37 (b)-(d) and 32-36 of the Convention) Asylum-seeking and refugee children 70. While noting the State party information on the provision of some welfare services, the Committee is concerned about the reported inadequate conditions in the camps with temporary refugees (so-called “external displaced persons”), and that the refugees and asylum-seekers outside of the camps and in urban areas are deemed to be illegal and are subject to arrest, detention and/or deportation for unlawful entry and/or unlawful stay. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned that the State party has not registered the newly arrived asylum-seekers since 2009, as stated by the State party’s delegation. 71. The Committee urges the State party to take all necessary measures to improve the conditions in camps for temporary refugees by providing them with adequate basic needs. The Committee also recommends that the State party renew its registration of newly arrived asylum-seekers in order to keep account of their possible needs. Furthermore, the Committee recommends that the State party treat the asylum-seekers and refugees according to their status and do not subject them to 15

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