Satellite-linked Education Planned For Far South Students

[george]

Satellite-linked education planned for far South students

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra agreed to allocate a Bt45 million budget for satellite dish installation in every school in the insurgency-plagued far South with an aim to alleviate

the severe shortage of teachers in the troubled-region, a senior education official said on Monday.

The proposed satellite-linked education for students in the southernmost provinces was conceived under a royal initiative of Her Royal Highness Princess Mahachakri Sirindhorn to help provide much-needed education for students in Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.

Insurgent attacks against teachers occurring on an almost daily basis in the Malaysian border provinces has resulted in some teachers asking to be transferred to other regions for fear of their safety.

Pornnipa Limpapayom, secretary-general of the Office of the Basic Education Commission said that distance learning via satellite links from Klaikangvol Palace School under royal patronage will be extended to hundreds of additional schools in the far South within the next few months.

--TNA 2006-07-04