IMPACT | Dhammajarinee

SOCIETAL & ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

The Dhammajarinee Witthaya School creates an impact on many levels

#1 Transforming Lives

Girls come to DWS from disadvantaged backgrounds throughout Thailand, including broken and troubled homes. 80% are living in poverty, 40% are orphans or abandoned, and many are at risk of physical and mental problems, including drug addiction. Through the loving environment of the boarding school, high-quality academics, proper nutrition, and stress management programs, including meditation and yoga, the girls become healthy, joyful, motivated students. There are currently over 1,000 students enrolled at DWS from kindergarten to grade 12.

#2 Creating Bright Futures

Over 90% of DWS graduates attend university, most being the first in their families to do so. This is remarkable because only 5% of children from low-income families in Thailand advance to higher education. Through employment and a better quality of life, Dhammajarinee graduates break the cycle of poverty for themselves and their families.

#3 Creating Change at Scale

Since its inception in 1990, more than 4,000 students have attended DWS. This has positively impacted not just these students but also the lives of their families and communities.

#4 Ensuring the Impact Continues

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Graduates profoundly understand how the school has transformed their lives and many want to return to help give the same opportunity to others. Currently 15 DWS graduates are working as teachers and administrators. They are also being mentored to be the future leaders of the school—ensuring the impact continues.

#5 Helping to End Gender Inequality in STEM

DWS is also focused on improving access to STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and math)—an area where girls are traditionally underrepresented. Only 1% of girls in Thailand expect to work in ICT (information and communications technology), but the need for these jobs is ever-increasing. Today 50% of Asia Pacific CEOs find it difficult hiring talent with suitable tech skills, and by 2030 there will be a shortage of 47 million such workers in the region. Over 90% of all jobs require digital skills, and as the tech revolution transforms all businesses, every industry will need such trained individuals. The need for girls in STEM is greater than ever before. DWS graduates are poised to enter society equipped with the skills needed to succeed in our rapidly advancing digital world.

#6 Helping to End Gender Inequality in Thailand

In Thailand, boys from low-income families can receive shelter, food, and education at Buddhist temples, but there is no such opportunity for girls. DWS provides these essential services for underserved girls in Thailand.

Educating girls creates a ripple effect, lifting families and communities out of poverty.

-With every year of schooling, a girl’s income typically will increase by 20%.

-A child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5.

-Educated women are 50% more likely to educate their own families.

-Educated women invest 90% of their income back into their families.

-Women’s equality and empowerment is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, but also integral to all dimensions of inclusive and sustainable development.

#7 Impacting Climate Change

Through completing 12 years of quality education, research has clearly shown that young girls can become a powerful climate solution. Climate Experts such as Project Drawdown cite advancing girls’ education among the ten most effective strategies for combating climate change—creating more impact than electric cars, solar farms and rooftops, reforestation, and regenerative agriculture.

#8 Addressing Sustainable Development Goals

Dhammajarinee Witthaya School directly addresses 12 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.