Phang Nga school launches a new pre-vocational programme
Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presided over the official launch of the pre-vocational programme being offered by Yaowawit School, a public-private homestay school for children from underprivileged families in the Southern province of Phang Nga, last Thursday.
Founded by the Children’s World Academy Foundation registered in Germany and Thailand, the school was inaugurated with the blessing of the Princess in April 2006. The goal of this non-profit organisation is to help children reach their full potential and empower them through education to be able to break out of the cycle of poverty.
“This special occasion marks Her Royal Highness’s fourth visit to Yaowawit School, the last one being in 2008 and we are proud of her ongoing support and interest in our school. Since then, we have built a meditation house, started a visiting programme with 16 international schools from all over the world, set up a solar energy plant, added 12 hotel rooms to Yaowawit Lodge and started our bilingual Thai/English programme in Kindergarten and Primary School,” says founder Philipp Graf von Hardenberg.
Hardenberg is a German national who founded the Yaowawit School & Lodge only weeks after the tsunami in 2005. He spent a career in the hotel industry in Europe, United States and was senior vice president of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. In 2013 he moved to Phuket to become partner and president & chief executive of the Thanyapura Health and Sports Resort. He is the founder and chairman of the Children’s World Academy Foundation, Thailand and created the concept of pre-vocational education.
From the beginning, Yaowawit has practised life-skills education and in 2016, the school teamed up with Marriott International, the Phang Nga Technical College and the Office of Vocational Education Commission to design and build the Yaowawit Pre-Vocational Hospitality Academy. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in February by the Yaowawit Pre-Vocational Agriculture Academy, OVEC and the Phang Nga Agriculture and Technical College.
Yaowawit provides more than 140 children aged from four to 18 with a home and holistic (body, mind and spirit) education. The education is based on the national Thai curriculum, broadened with the inclusion of pre-vocation education and a strong English programme. Integrated and life-skill learning is emphasised in addition to personal and social development throughout the school.
Hardenberg also introduced six supporters, each of whom made a donation to the Princess, who then gave them to Yaowawit School’s representative. Supatra Charuariyanon is a businesswoman from Phuket who sponsors school materials and funds a scholarship for one of the students. Jens Moehrle, senior director of Playmobil, supports its operations and farm projects.
Frank Steinbacher, vice president sales and marketing of Mercedes-Benz, Thailand, also serves as Yaowawit’s brand ambassador and tells the school’s stories through public relations campaigns and media trips. Simon Philipps, Arrowsmith Programme supporter and the school’s newest friend, sends the teachers to sessions on its brain-training exercises in Canada.
David Teplitzky is a philanthropist who helps with international fundraising for the Agricultural Pre-Vocational Academy, and Yaowapa Boonsaweng is the school’s dear friend and supporter from Kapong.
During the ceremony, Yaowawit’s students performed a tin mining dance for the Princess who later toured the school’s facilities including the Pre-Vocational Hospitality Academy designed in cooperation with Marriott International and the Phang Nga Technical College, the Hospitality Learning Class, the library, the Kindergarten Class’s Bilingual Programme Class, the Arrowsmith Programme for Brain Training Programme Room, and the Botanical Classroom.
