Most schools in Thai far South reopened

BANGKOK, December 17 (TNA) - Most schools in the Thai far South, including those in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, as well as four districts in Songkhla province, have been reopened, amid more intensified security measures to protect local teachers. In Yala, teachers gathered at their meeting points Monday morning to be then escorted by local troops on their ways to schools, as local police, administrators and volunteers have also assisted in around-the-clock protection for the teachers. Like the situation in Yala, where a top educational authority, Adul Promsaeng, director of the Yala Primary Educational Service Area Office 1, visited Baan Krong Pinang School in Krong Pinang district to boost morale of teachers and students, Deputy Governor of Narathiwat Province Samart Waradisai visited local schools to boost morale of teachers and security officers, as some security officers even volunteer to substitute teachers amid a shortage of teachers following their transfers out of the violence-plagued deep South recently. In Pattani, where two female school directors were shot dead recently, most schools were also reopened Monday morning amid downpours and heavy security measures. However, Baan Ba Ngo School in Mayo district has remained closed, as its teachers are still frightened after two teachers were shot dead on December 11, one of them was the school's female director, and there are now only four teachers left. In Songkhla, about 100 schools in four districts have also been reopened, as Songkhla Governor Krisada Boonrat has asked defence volunteers and police to intensify their security measures, including guarding local schools around the clock for the time being. Meanwhile, the 4th Army Area Command has vowed to provide a 24-hour security for teachers in the troubled southernmost Thai region, urging local people to also help protect teachers for the sake of local youths' steady development in the long run. (TNA)