Attacks on schools left unguarded after class hours are rarely heard of in even the most notorious staging grounds of terrorism elsewhere. Using fundamental common sense, warring parties realise why they must spare children's places of interest and welfare. But such awareness does not seem to affect the perpetrators of school fires in Thailand.

Excluding the countless arson attacks on schools by insurgents in the Muslim-dominated deep South, there have been at least 30 school fires in eight northeastern provinces and five northern provinces since last September. The first to occur, and which raised the alarm about the targeting of schools, were simultaneous blazes at five schools in Kamphaeng Phet province on the night of September 27. Police have determined that all the incidents were arson attacks. A number of suspects were detained for questioning but all were later released for lack of evidence. Of the other school blazes that have occurred since then, investigators have concluded that about half were due to an electrical short circuit or other accidental causes, while the rest are likely arson attacks.

Clearly the torching of schools in the North and the Northeast is copied from the insurgents in the deep South, although the political agenda behind the crime may be different. Arson attacks on schools in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are shows of defiance meant to demonstrate how the insurgents can ruin the government's administrative power exercised through the education system, while the objective of similar attacks on schools in other parts of the country remains obscure. Small rural schools have become easy targets for these attacks since most of them are unguarded after class hours.

Just as schools in the three southernmost provinces were put under tight military protection following arson attacks, schools in other parts of the country are now being given a security beef-up in wake of the recent fires.

One of the most conspicuous facts about the school fires outside the restive South is that they started occurring right after the coup that toppled the government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on September 19 last year. The Council for National Security and the interim government were quick to conclude that the acts of terrorism were organised by a political "undercurrent" movement to defy their power and even ordered an investigation into possible involvement of politicians associated with the previous administration. However, so far no solid proof has been provided to support the theory and no arrests have been made in cases of suspected arson.

With police still busy probing earlier blazes, at least three arson attempts on schools were reported in the northeastern provinces of Ubon Ratchathani and Buri Ram last week, leaving terrorised teachers and students elsewhere wondering whether their schools would be safe from such attacks.

Whatever the aim of those behind the school fires, be it political or personal, their crime deserves the gravest degree of condemnation considering its cruel physical and psychological impact on innocent teachers and students. What could be worse than putting children's educational future in peril simply as part of certain people's dirty games or vengeance plans?

For the government and law enforcement agencies, much remains to be done in finding and bringing to justice those behind the fires and to prevent them from preying on more schools. The government should make the best use of the abundance intelligence resources under its command to quickly wrap up the cases and restore the people's confidence, which has been badly shaken by these attacks on schools.