Replacements Sought For Buddhist Teachers In South: Thailand

[webfact]

Replacements sought for Buddhist teachers in south

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Volunteer teachers or teachers from the Border Patrol Police School should be deployed to replace Buddhist teachers moved from the far South out of fear they will be killed by insurgents, the chairman of the Confederation of Teachers of the Three Southern Border Provinces said yesterday.

Bunsom Thongsriprai spoke before a meeting of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre chaired by SBPAC secretary-general Pol Colonel Thawee Sodsong to probe facts surrounding recent deaths of teachers, including religious teachers.

Thawee said the agency would first look into the causes of teacher killings, to determine if it was personal conflicts or the work of insurgents in order to map out preventive security methods and establish rehabilitation measures.

The SBPAC summoned forensic experts to join the meeting and set up a panel to seek solutions to teacher killings within two months.

Bunsom said the most urgent problem was finding teachers to replace Buddhist teachers who have relocated out of risky and violence-prone areas.

"We cannot allow students to have no teachers. Our children must get an education. We have called on the government to pay all teachers - be they religious teachers, private-school teachers or teachers hired on a temporary basis - to get the Bt3,500 special allowance regardless of whether they are Muslim, Buddhist or Christian teachers." He said Buddhist teachers were scared of being targets of insurgent attacks and refused to teach at their schools, so teacher volunteers or those from Border Patrol schools must be mobilised to replace them.

Meanwhile, a Buddhist resident was shot in the chest twice and badly hurt while riding his motorcycle in Chanae district in Narathiwat by two attackers wearing crash helmets on another motorcycle.

-- The Nation 2012-12-24

[Squigy]

If the conditions and money where reasonable and visa's and WP given out I would consider!

[OzMick]

IMHO the criteria for selection to attack is not so much the religion of the teacher, but more the curriculum of the school - which does not include Islam. I don't recall one instance of a madrasa or its teachers being attacked, though I'll concede they are unlikely to be Buddhist.

If every time a government school or its teachers was attacked, a madrasa was forcibly closed and its pupils moved to a government school, the primary objective (forcing muslim students to seek a muslim education) of the separatists would be thwarted and bthe attacks become self-defeating. Of course such a move would be unpopular, mainly amongst those most likely to support the separatists, but should only have to be applied on a limited number of occasions, if at all if widely publicized before commencement.

[sirchai]

"We cannot allow students to have no teachers."

What a BS......

[chainarong]

Religion, once again rearing its bl!!dy head, now if they would only teach the three RRrssss

[rubl]

Replacements sought for Buddhist teachers in south

Rich teacher to the rescue :-)

[webfact]

Southern teachers’ faith in government’s ‘security’ provisions runs low

By Digital Media

NARATHIWAT, Dec 24 – The morale of teachers in Thailand’s far South has deteriorated, with educators openly announcing their lack of confidence in the government’s security measures and warning that the chronic violence has impacted the country’s education, economy and social affairs, and dumped people into a state of fear.

Members of the fact-finding committee on the deaths of teachers and other education-related civil servants in the South expressed grave concern during a meeting at the office of the Southern Border Province Administrative Centre (SBPAC) here on Sunday.

SBPAC Secretary General Pol Col Tawee Sodsong said the authorities will find out if the teachers were killed for personal reasons or due to the southern unrest.

“Anti-insurgency measures in the South will have to be adjusted with participation of all agencies concerned,” he said.

Boonsom Thongsriprai, chairman of the Federation of Teachers in Three Southern Border Provinces, said he believed teachers will hear facts and motivations behind the deaths of teachers while more stringent measures and strategies are needed.

The most crucial issue is that of requests by a large number of ethnic Thai Buddhist teachers to be transferred from the South, he said, adding that this problem needs urgent resolution and that teachers should be granted risk payment as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, a woman defence volunteer, identified as Chum Suksaeng, was seriously wounded when two gunmen on a motorcycle shot at her and immediately fled the scene in Janae district of Narathiwat.

In nearby Songkhla province, where a bomb exploded in Nikom Thepa district market on Saturday, security officials said the suspect, identified as Maruding Sama, is a co-leader of insurgency operations in the South.

Officials said security has been reinforced especially on roads leading to the bustling district of Hat Yai during the New Year’s holiday, while security agencies a announced special alert on Songkhla’s four districts of Jana, Thepa, Na Tawee and Sabayoi. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-12-24

[jerrysteve]

Squigy: You must have a DEATH WISH!

[slapout]

They seem to have schools/teachers/government who are attempting to remain seaperate from those of a different religion/political belief and they are promoting learning, living, and existing in harmoney.

Good luck on this project....

[LuckyLew]

seems simple enough

muslim insurgents

so get muslim teachers

will they kill their own?

[p_brownstone]

I don't believe the religion of the Teacher is the problem - the problem is that radical Islam is against education as a concept, especially of course for women.

Education is the enemy of radical religion - particularly Islam - because an educated individual is capable of rationally examining beliefs and will not blindly accept dogma or extremism..

Patrick

[Will2011]

Insurgents? Which insurgents are they talking about??

[JemJem]

seems simple enough

muslim insurgents

so get muslim teachers

will they kill their own?

As far as I know from what I have read in the papers, many Muslim teachers (and Muslim people from other professions) have also been killed by the separatists.

[Squigy]

Squigy: You must have a DEATH WISH!

Nope not at all. I believe if you have enough people who are willing to stand up against this crap, it will eventually go away. The police and army are not doing the job that they were put down there to do. They are focusing om making money instead of enforcing the law.

[squarethecircle]

I don't believe the religion of the Teacher is the problem - the problem is that radical Islam is against education as a concept, especially of course for women. Education is the enemy of radical religion - particularly Islam - because an educated individual is capable of rationally examining beliefs and will not blindly accept dogma or extremism..

Astounding ignorance displayed here. I think Muslim teachers working for Thai government are also targeted. The primary reason behind all this is the fact that the Siamese are occupying of Malay-Muslim territory (see the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909), and generally being imposing bullies while doing so. Hence why, according to Amnesty International, 80% of the population in these areas support the insurgency, despite disagreeing with the methods they use. Actually after spending some time in these regions I can tell you that the Malay-Muslims are, as a whole, the most civilized and educated people, minority or otherwise, I've come across in Thailand, likely due to widespread contact with European/Arab/South Asian traders. For example, there were no rats, no street dogs, no prostitutes yelling "werlcome, massage", in the rural places I went in Pattani (instead they had house cats) despite it being economically the least developed region of Thailand. Also they spoke pretty good English (and almost everyone could read Arabic), better than Bangkok. Actually I think the Thais should own up to the fact that Pattani isn't their fair territory, but doing so would make for loss of face and loss of money (tens of billions of baht spent on military operations down there). Also people down there insisted that a lot of these attacks are sponsored by Thai Buddhists or military (or probably Thai organized criminals), which is probably the case when a Muslim restaurant is shot up or an Army grenade is thrown into a mosque.

[p_brownstone]

I don't believe the religion of the Teacher is the problem - the problem is that radical Islam is against education as a concept, especially of course for women. Education is the enemy of radical religion - particularly Islam - because an educated individual is capable of rationally examining beliefs and will not blindly accept dogma or extremism..

Astounding ignorance displayed here.

Absolutely no need to throw around personal and emotive insults old chap, this a debate - where all opinions should be listened to and respected, even if they may differ from your own.

Radical Islams' hatred, I would say fear, of education is amply documented in many parts of the world and I contend that the reasons for that are as I have stated.

I personally believe that the significant incentive behind a lot of the attacks in the South has little to do with a so called "Separatist" movement but is aimed at keeping the population ignorant and investment frightened off, so a self-fulfilling dilemma develops; uneducated people with few prospects turn to any avenue for ephemeral relief.

You admit that even Muslim teachers are being targeted (which was a main point in my Post) and we all know that whole schools are being deliberately destroyed by your so-called Separatists, the obvious motive being to deny education to the young.

(By the way your delighted appreciation at the absence of street dogs and prostitutes demonstrates a rather significant lack of knowledge of even the basic tenets of Islam)

Patrick

[Scott]

Please keep the discussion civil, otherwise some well thought out and informative posts will have to be removed.

[masaomi]

I don't believe the religion of the Teacher is the problem - the problem is that radical Islam is against education as a concept, especially of course for women.

Education is the enemy of radical religion - particularly Islam - because an educated individual is capable of rationally examining beliefs and will not blindly accept dogma or extremism..

Patrick

you are absolutely correct! Bull's Eye!

[OzMick]

I don't believe the religion of the Teacher is the problem - the problem is that radical Islam is against education as a concept, especially of course for women. Education is the enemy of radical religion - particularly Islam - because an educated individual is capable of rationally examining beliefs and will not blindly accept dogma or extremism..

Astounding ignorance displayed here. I think Muslim teachers working for Thai government are also targeted. The primary reason behind all this is the fact that the Siamese are occupying of Malay-Muslim territory (see the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909), and generally being imposing bullies while doing so. Hence why, according to Amnesty International, 80% of the population in these areas support the insurgency, despite disagreeing with the methods they use. Actually after spending some time in these regions I can tell you that the Malay-Muslims are, as a whole, the most civilized and educated people, minority or otherwise, I've come across in Thailand, likely due to widespread contact with European/Arab/South Asian traders. For example, there were no rats, no street dogs, no prostitutes yelling "werlcome, massage", in the rural places I went in Pattani (instead they had house cats) despite it being economically the least developed region of Thailand. Also they spoke pretty good English (and almost everyone could read Arabic), better than Bangkok. Actually I think the Thais should own up to the fact that Pattani isn't their fair territory, but doing so would make for loss of face and loss of money (tens of billions of baht spent on military operations down there). Also people down there insisted that a lot of these attacks are sponsored by Thai Buddhists or military (or probably Thai organized criminals), which is probably the case when a Muslim restaurant is shot up or an Army grenade is thrown into a mosque.

Almost everyone can read Arabic - you might ask why that is so. Because the supposed "word of god" can only be read in Arabic, making learning it a compulsory subject in Muslim schools while they could be learning something that is practically useful - like the national language for example.

The fact that the curriculum is so heavily loaded with religion rather than more earthly pursuits leaves these people undertrained for the work force, stuck in low paying jobs, and feeling hard done by.

[Scott]

I am assuming that the replacement teachers will meet the current criteria for new teachers. I assume they will have a Bachelor's degree in Education and that they will have a Teacher's License or a waiver and be complying with the regulations, just like the foreign and Thai teachers in the rest of Thailand have to do.

[bigbamboo]

If the conditions and money where reasonable and visa's and WP given out I would consider!

Throw in a flak jacket and an RPG and I would too.

[chooka]

Good luck on this project, the pay must be great. What is the life expectancy for a teacher down there now?

[kimamey]

seems simple enough

muslim insurgents

so get muslim teachers

will they kill their own?

Yes probably.

This is the answer I gave to a similar suggestion on another thread.

I doubt that would help.

For a start you need to forget the notion of "muslims" as a huge (700 million I think) grouping of people all under the same beliefs and values. Many muslims are killed by other muslims because it's believed they aren't real muslims because they don't abide by the same values and are often considered to be collaborating with the western enemy as well. These extremists don't just want to practice their religion, they see it as their duty to make everyone in the world do so as well.

In Afghanistan most muslims are killed by the Taliban and in the process many copies of the Qur'an will have also been destroyed. It's the Americans who get the anger for the far fewer deaths caused by the coalition forces.

As for killing babies and children the extremists just see them as necessary deaths in the fight for Islam as they see it.

[Scott]

My understanding is that teachers are targeted because they are gov't employees and it is the gov't that the insurgents have a beef with. It does not matter what religion the teachers are, they will likely be targeted as long as it is a gov't school.

The OP talks about taking teachers from the Border Patrol Police Schools. What are Border Patrol Police Schools? How would these teachers be less of a target than the current teachers?

My guess is that a lot of the gov't teachers are simply giving up their jobs (and possibly the gov't benefits) rather than work in the south.

[Will2011]

Does everyone here agree for the region in the south to be independent like 100 years ago?

Would it be acceptable for Muslim territories to be associated with a central government that is clearly Buddhist? Does it seem to be fair?

[davidstipek]

If the conditions and money where reasonable and visa's and WP given out I would consider!

Squigy... I Second that! I could do double duty... Teach and keep Safe! Visa and WP also enable to totally stay in Thailand.... I'd fight to be first in line!! "Quote Me"!

[Scott]

If the conditions and money where reasonable and visa's and WP given out I would consider!

Squigy... I Second that! I could do double duty... Teach and keep Safe! Visa and WP also enable to totally stay in Thailand.... I'd fight to be first in line!! "Quote Me"!

The insurgents will probably target teachers when they are on their way to renew the Work Permit and do the 90 day reporting.

[Yahooka]

seems simple enough

muslim insurgents

so get muslim teachers

will they kill their own?

You bet they will kill their own.In fact most of the people killed in the conflict until now are muslims.

[Squigy]

If the conditions and money where reasonable and visa's and WP given out I would consider!

Squigy... I Second that! I could do double duty... Teach and keep Safe! Visa and WP also enable to totally stay in Thailand.... I'd fight to be first in line!! "Quote Me"!

The insurgents will probably target teachers when they are on their way to renew the Work Permit and do the 90 day reporting.

Just the point Scott, we would not have to do all that BS . That would be one of the conditions that would have to be given out along with others.

Pigs whoops should read cats will fly.

[bunta71]

Religion, once again rearing its bl!!dy head, now if they would only teach the three RRrssss

Here it is the three "L's"