The situation for many needy children is dire, particularly those belonging to hill tribes who live in the highlands and are non-Thai citizens.Marginalised and with little or no formal access to state assistance, many of the hilltribe families and children are left to fend for themselves in often harsh living environments.
Help comes from outside the country and the United Nations Children's Fund is one of the major providers.
Unicef gets across the plight of the children via the TV screen by appointing celebrities to carry its message.
Entertainment celebrities often find it hard to take time out of their busy schedules to visit poverty-stricken people living in remote rural areas.
But that is not the case with Aaron Kwok, 43, a popular Hong Kong singer and movie star, who was appointed as Hong Kong's Unicef goodwill ambassador on Aug 18 last year.
This gave him the opportunity to travel to Thailand and visit the northern province of Mae Hong Son on Aug 31.
He and a filming crew were in Mae Hong Son to shoot a documentary on the lives and education of hilltribe children to draw public attention to the youngsters' welfare and rights and to raise money to help them.Mr Kwok said he was no stranger to Thailand, particularly Bangkok, as he had often been here for the filming and launching of his movies.
However, it was the first time in his life he had travelled in the rugged terrain of the upper North.
He said 10 years ago he went to a remote southern part of China to donate to a children's charity. But that was only a brief visit, he said.
''This time, I spent three full days with children from various tribes,'' Mr Kwok said. He said being a Unicef envoy gave him the opportunity to work with international organisations and allowed him to find out about the plight of needy and underprivileged hilltribe kids.
The documentary, filmed between Aug 31-Sept 4 last year, dealt with the lives of children at schools and villages from various ethnic minority groups of hilltribe people living in Khun Yuam, Pang Ma Pha and Muang districts of Mae Hong Son, which borders Burma.The hilltribe ethnic groups include the Lisu, Lahu, Hmong, Karen and Shan.
The documentary also takes a look at the problems of children of refugees or of displaced families from Burma, who have no access to education.
Many are stateless children and orphans lacking Thai citizenship and they have no right to a state education.
They have no access to public health services and some of the girls became pregnant at very young ages.
Certain gender concepts among some hill tribes also prevent girls from furthering their education. Their families often do not recognise the importance of educating girls.
The documentary also showed the devotion and commitment of teachers who want to make sure their students receive a proper education.''What impressed me the most is the kindness and generosity the children showed to each other. This is a quality that grown-up people should learn from them, the children,'' Mr Kwok said.
He recalled a visit to a school in Pang Ma Pha. Since it was a long way from their hill-top houses to the school, the hilltribe children had to live and study at the school.
About 30 students at the school would be given different tasks to do, such as cleaning and preparing lunches.
When he visited the school, Mr Kwok said he saw students queueing up for their lunch.
Each student got a meal except the one waiting at the end of the line as there was no food left for him.
When the other students realised this, each gave some of their food to him and they acted entirely of their own accord, Mr Kwok said.
''It was an act of selflessness which is rare in an urban society,'' he said.
He said he was also impressed with the sex education given to the children with the emphasis on measures to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids.
Mr Kwok said he would raise HK$1 million (4.2 million baht) from an annual car-racing event organised by his charity fund and give the money to the Friends of Unicef donation programme to help needy children around the world.
He hopes to return to the schools he visited last year to follow up on their progress.Rangsun Wiboonuppatum, Unicef Thailand Chief of Education, initiated a project to build schools for the hilltribe children in the North in 2005 with financial support from Unicef.
So far, 23 schools have been built in four districts _ Pai, Khun Yuam, Pang Ma Pha and Muang.
The hilltribe school project is aimed at ensuring children from the region's hill tribes receive a proper, basic education.
Schools will be built near villages and focus on a child-centred learning approach to develop the skills children need to fulfil their potential. Mr Rangsun said he wanted to increase the number of schools to 120 for hilltribe villages in the North.
He said funding of about US$300,000 (9.9 million baht) will be required to finance construction of schools and pay for learning materials, stationery and teachers' salaries.
Mr Rangsun said many hilltribe teachers have no knowledge of the Thai language and a budget is needed to teach them to speak Thai and the dialects of other ethnic groups.
Prachuap Kaewsiri, 50, director of the Pang Ma Pha school, said the project has improved hilltribe children's access to education.
He said the school sent teachers to set up a primary school for small children near their villages in the mountains. When they grow up, they can continue their education in lowland areas.
Apart from illiteracy, problems involving cultural differences among the ethnic groups also needed to be addressed, Mr Prachuap said.
''A cultural classroom should be introduced to accommodate children of different ethnic backgrounds,'' he said.
He said early marriages among hilltribe teenage girls are a hindrance to their educational progress.
''When they get married, most of them drop out of school. The school has to explain to their parents
[the importance of education],'' Mr Prachuap said, adding that a shortage of teachers, particularly hilltribe teachers, was also a major headache.
Without financial support from Unicef, hilltribe teachers would have to quit while teachers from the Education Ministry would usually leave to go and work in cities if they got the chance, Mr Prachuap said.
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