Teachers seek an end to killings
**PM pressed to boost security in the South **
Published: 14/09/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Distressed teachers from the three southernmost provinces have told Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva the killing of educators must come to an end.
Representatives of the Teachers Federation in the South travelled to Bangkok yesterday to tell the prime minister in no uncertain terms that the killing of two teachers a week ago has to be the last.
The 32 teachers from Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala met Mr Abhisit at Government House and presented him with a list of demands which included a boost in security plus special remuneration for the three children of the dead teachers. He agreed to their demands.
Wilas Petchprom, 54, a teacher at Baan Mananggayi School, and his wife Komkam Petchprom, 53, a teacher at Tungtohdang School, were shot dead last Tuesday morning. Their deaths raised the number of teachers killed in the lower South to 137 since violence flared up in the predominantly Muslim region in 2004.
“We hope the prime minister and the government will help solve our problems. We don’t want to go home empty-handed,” said Ameen Kardee, director of Ban Kaso School in Yala’s Bannang Sata district.
The teachers demanded that the government press the military to sign a memorandum of understanding with local schools to guarantee their safety; for the prime minister or his representative to preside over the funeral rites of the dead teachers as a means of giving moral support to their children and remaining teachers; for children of slain teachers to have the automatic right to government jobs; and for the pension fund of each dead teacher to increase seven-fold.
Prime Minister Abhisit spent about an hour with the teachers. Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senneam said he accepted the teachers’ demands and wanted them put into effect as soon as possible.
“The prime minister understands the teachers’ problems well,” Mr Thaworn said.
“He knows how dangerous and risky the deep South is. He encouraged the teachers to exercise their utmost patience for the sake of the nation.”
He said the prime minister wanted to visit the lower South to give moral support to the teachers. But they warned him against going to the area at this time as he would be a very real target for those stirring up trouble.
Education Minister Chinnaworn Boonyakiat said the demands that concern the Education Ministry would be put to the cabinet today.
He said he would do everything in his power to encourage teachers in the deep South to stay there. They would be given special benefits and welfare packages for as long as they work in the region.
Some of the teachers said they were satisfied with the meeting.
“The prime minister sympathised with us and accepted most of our demands,” Boonsom Thongsriplai, chairman of the teachers federation, said shortly after emerging from the meeting.
“He pledged to provide us with increased safety.”
As for the other demands, especially those involving extra pay, the prime minister said he would have to see first whether there were any legal problems.
Mr Ameen of Ban Kaso School admitted he feared being attacked and killed while travelling between home and school as the situation in the area was getting worse. All the teachers want is for the government to assure their safety, he said.
Jirarat Pruksasri, director of Ban Padaeranga School in Pattani’s Nong Chik district, said living in the lower South was like a life and death situation.
“Even though I’m afraid, I don’t want to move out of the area. If I go back to my home town in Trang, who’ll teach my students?” she said.
Bron: Bangkok Post