Record Numbers Of Students Leave Troubled South

[george]

Record numbers of students leave the troubled south

PATTANI: -- Record numbers of students have left Thailand’s troubled south to study elsewhere in the country, a local education official told TNA on Wednesday.

But the continuing violence in the region was not to blame, said the director of the Education Ministry's coordination centre for three southern border provinces, Sunant Thepsri.

Most of the students had either followed their parents, who were seeking their jobs elsewhere, or had moved to other senior high schools to prepare for their university entrance examinations.

''We acknowledge that the number of students moving away has climbed to a record high compared to previous years but I think it is still normal,'' he said.

Even though studies in the three troubled provinces had often been disrupted by insurgent attacks, pupils had still done well in their university entrance exams, Mr. Sunant said. More students had passed the exam this year than previously, he said.

''That is because the ministry had sent academics and professional tutors from Bangkok to give them special tutorial sessions which had never happened before,'' he said.

Violent unrest has swept across Thailand’s three southern border provinces since early 2004 in which schools and teachers have often been targeted, interrupting teaching and studies. More than 600 people have been killed in the violence.

--TNA 2005-04-20

[Joey Boy]

Record numbers of students leave the troubled south

''We acknowledge that the number of students moving away has climbed to a record high compared to previous years but I think it is still normal,'' he said.

--TNA 2005-04-20

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yeep, must just be normal then