Mae La Refugee Camp

Mae La refugee camp was first established 70 km north of Mae Sot in Thailand in 1984. It's the largest refugee camp on the Thai Myanmar Border. Having a capacity for 50,000 people, although currently there are about 37,000 in 6,700 households. MEP has long had a presence at Mae La refugee camp, teaching the Cambridge English Certificate. In March 2020, just a few days before their exams, it was announced that Cambridge examiners would not be allowed to fly up to Mae Sot, and so after 6 months of study, the course was cancelled. 

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The problem was a COVID lockdown, and then, less than 12 months later, there was a military coup in Myanmar, which intensified a security lockdown. In short, MEP was locked out of Mae La camp from March 2020 until 2024, when we saw our return to Mae La refugee camp to deliver a KEY Cambridge course to 24 camp residents at Pu Taw Memorial College