Verification limbo: Digitalizing identity, schools, and protracted exclusion in northern Thailand

In contemporary Thailand, educational attainment constitutes one of the few pathways through which children can access economic mobility and social inclusion. However, the digitalization of identity verification and school enrollment systems has created new barriers for stateless and undocumented populations in northern Thailand, trapping them in what Dr Cheva-Isarakul calls 'verification limbo'.

This lecture explores how technological systems designed to modernize governance can paradoxically deepen social exclusion, and examines the lived experiences of families navigating bureaucratic obstacles to education.