And ongoing violence has more than 3,700 teachers seeking to be replaced

Their Majesties the King and Queen are “deeply worried” about students in the strife-torn deep South, Kwankaew Watcharoethai, chairman of Rajaprachanukroh Foundation, said yesterday.

On behalf of the King and Queen, Kwankaew visited Yala’s Pattana Wittaya School, a private Islamic school, to meet teachers and students. He distributed stationary and sport equipment.

“Their Majesties the King and Queen are deeply worried about students in the three border provinces and want them to receive a good education for their and the country’s development,” Kwankaew said.

He also visited the school’s satellite distant-learning facility, which was set up by the foundation under the King’s patronage.

Kwankaew later visited four other schools in Yala, speaking to students and distributing gifts.

Hassana Busaman, a teacher in neighbouring Pattani, said teachers and students in the restive deep South all appreciated the Royal Family’s concern for them.

“Their Majesties’ concern for us gives us strength and encouragement to continue teaching even in the face of violence,” she said.

In a related development, Education Minister Adisai Bodharamik said yesterday that as many as 3,728 teachers had requested to be relieved of their duties at their current workplaces.

Some 1,200 teachers – or 10 per cent of teachers working in the restive region – asked to be relocated to posts away from the three southernmost provinces. Dozens of Buddhist teachers have been singled out for assassination by Islamic insurgents in the deep South.

Adisai said the ministry would try to answer all requests before the end of next week, replacing them with teaching employees.

Meanwhile, a Buddhist school principal was shot dead in Narathiwat. He is the 25th teacher to have been killed since violence erupted in the region early last year.

Chaiyant Chaikweang, 47, principal of Weang district’s Ban Krue Sor School, was gunned down on Tuesday night at a grocery store in Sungai Kolok town, Captain Surachet Boonrak, of Sungai Kolok police station, said.

Chaiyant was pronounced dead early yesterday at Sungai Kolok hospital.

Police later attributed the shooting not to the work of insurgents but to the result of a vendetta resulting from a personal conflict, Colonel Surasak Romyanont, superintendent of Sungai Kolok, said.

Based on the testimonials of five eyewitnesses, officers sketched a picture of the suspect as a Buddhist man in his 30s. Surasak declined to give further details beyond saying that a court in Narathiwat would issue an arrest warrant for the suspect.