Ikano Health week gives more children access to education
Every year, Ikano Group organises a Health week, where co-workers from all around the world spend a week focusing on their health, whilst collecting hours towards a donation to a chosen charity. Last year, a record-breaking 3574 co-workers spent 12,191 hours dedicated to mental and physical health, which resulted in a EUR 150,000 donation to Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation Tak Border Child Assistance project in Thailand.
The main purpose of the project is to give migrant children access to education in their own language. Children from ethnic minorities in Thailand have had problems performing well in school, both due to the language barrier and because of cultural differences. Specifically, life in the Burmese-Thai border area is shaped by the Karen culture and language, and the Tak project trains teachers in intercultural and native language teaching. Thanks to this training, the students learn more about their own cultures, as well as cultures that are foreign to them. This leads to a diverse and understanding community.
With the help of Ikano’s donation, the project has contributed significantly to ensuring that multi-ethnic girls and boys along the Thailand-Myanmar border have access to inclusive and equitable quality education that is relevant to their needs, languages and cultures.
In 2024, a total of 3,859 students, including 903 new, benefited from improved teaching practices across 16 target schools. 57 school teachers and local wisdom teachers, including 6 new, were coached online and onsite on the various topics relevant to the project. All 16 schools and communities received technical and financial support in the form of school materials for teaching intercultural education, mother tongue and Thai language.