THESE kids are on their way to school - all they have to do first is cross the river. They have a couple of choices: they can go downstream 20 kilometers to the nearest bridge, or they can pay the local boatman 30 baht to carry them across.

Being poor but keen to learn, these children do the next-best thing - they strip off and then ford the river, with their school packs held above their heads. Going home, they repeat the process.

LongPae Witaya School is in the Sop Meoy district of Mae Hong Song province, in the north of Thailand. There are 250 children at the school, from kindergarten to junior high, but only about 80 or so have to get there and back the hard way, by fording the river twice a day.

When the river runs too deep, the children are either obliged to stay home, or stay at the school, says school director Siam Ruengsuksai. Most of the children are from Thailand's hill tribes.

This is higher education, Thai mountains style.

''Some of them hike for 15 kilometres across two mountains, then cross the river,'' Khun Siam said. ''It's about 100 metres wide. The children who come from far away leave home on Sundays to reach the school, then they have to stay at school all week.''

Phuket is a long way from Mae Hong Song province, but Pareeya Jullaphong, the corporate social responsibility project manager for Bangkok Hospital Phuket, in Phuket City, believes help should go wherever the need is greatest.

''These kids need about 300,000 baht for a bridge,'' she said. ''When we heard about it, we decided that the sooner we were able to help these children get to school dry, the better.''

Khun Pareeya was alerted to the need for a bridge by Nuchsuda Ngansinopon, who listens to the radio commuting to work o Phuket and heard one day about the kids who had to swim to school.

''I couldn't believe it,'' she told Phuketwan, ''so I checked and discovered it was true. Some days, if the water is deeper, the kids have to use big empty plastic water bottles to float across. The ones that don't have bottles don't get to school.''

The aim is for the bridge to be built in November, when the dry season allows easier access to the remote location.

''If there are any volunteers from Phuket who would like to help building the bridge, please let me know,'' Khun Pareeya said. ''My friends plans to go to look at the spot to build it first, then I will go with volunteers to help to build it.''

Once the bridge is built, extra gifts will go towards school uniforms. Donations to the project can be made to:

School account
Government Savings Bank, Maesareang Branch
Account. Name: Donation for building a bridge across Ngow River
Account Number: 020021745649

CSR account
Pareeya Jullaphong
Bangkok Bank, Central Festival Phuket Branch
Saving Acct. No. 668-0-20067-9

Khun Pareeya, who speaks Thai and English, can be reached on 076 254425 ext 1284

''Please email me your name and donation amount,'' she says. ''My email is pareeya@bgh.co.th If you wish to have a receipt, I also need your full name or company name and mailing address.''