The new unit will train teachers in hand-to-hand combat techniques and how to fire a gun, said secretary-general of Narathiwat Teachers Federation Sa-nguan Intrarak.

More than 300 teachers have already registered to receive training, which would start in Narathiwat as a pilot programme. “We are also proposing to have training provided in Yala and Pattani to increase teachers’ ability in fighting the insurgents,” he added.

The latest initiative will strengthen the existing programme in which various agencies take turns in training teachers and other civil servants on how to fire weapons.

The new wave of attacks on teachers has prompted more than 138 schools in Yala to close down for a week.

However, almost all the schools re-opened yesterday having beefed up their security personnel to prevent any possible violent incidents, including Ban Lue Mu School in Krong Pinang district of Yala, where an ambush on teachers took place two weeks ago.

As Ban Lue Mu School re-opened its doors, Krong Pinang district police and Chiang Mai-based Border Patrol Police Unit 33 escorted teachers back and forth to the school.

Ban Lue Mu School principal Suraphon Pitak said that after meeting with security officials he was confident they would be able to provide safety to both teachers and students.

Pitak added that he had also asked village headmen and villagers in the area to help observe the situation around the school.

The growing violence also prompted teachers in Yala to apply for a government-sponsored insurance scheme that would pay up to Bt800,000 in case of death.

“Teachers will have to pay Bt365 for a year’s coverage,” said director of Yala’s insurance office Vipa Boonpanomchai, adding that teachers who were injured in the violence in the South could also claim insurance.

Vipa said quite a number of teachers in the area who have already claimed insurance money and she expected more teachers to file for claims as the violence continues unabated in the Muslim-majority South.

Teachers have been increasingly affected by the insurgency. Two weeks ago four teachers at Ban Lue Mu School in Yala were ambushed while waiting for security officials to escort them home, while another teacher was injured in a drive-by shooting on the same day. 

The Nation

Narathiwat