The taskforce, formed in 2004, provides weapons handling and hand-to-hand combat training. It began in Narathiwat as a pilot programme to ease the growing fear among teachers in the restive region.

So far, 300 teachers have completed the programme. Another 900 are being registered and are scheduled to start training after the final exam season ends in early March, said Thawach Sae-ham, president of the Narathiwat Teachers Federation.

The latest training will include negotiating tactics in hostage situations as well as psychological techniques for dealing with the increasing tension and violence in daily life, Thawach said.

The initiative is aimed at strengthening existing programmes, in which various agencies take turns in training teachers and other civil servants on how to use weapons.

Teachers have been targets of Muslim insurgents in the near daily attacks in the South, including bombings, shootings and arson, that have claimed more than 1,100 lives since January 2004.

Last week more than 180 schools in Yala temporarily closed for a week after five teachers were attacked on the same day.

The Nation

Narathiwat