Teachers seek transfer out of Thai south

Teachers seek transfer out of Thai south

THAILAND: More than 1,000 panicked education officials and teachers have sought transfers out of Thailand's restive south following the latest shooting of a teacher by suspected Islamic separatists, an official said on Thursday.

At least 200 teachers in Pattani, one of three provinces in the deep south wracked by violence this year, petitioned authorities for immediate transfers after a deputy principal at a local school was gunned down on Wednesday and left fighting for his life, a Pattani education department official said.

About 1,000 others were also believed to have requested transfers from neighboring provinces Narathiwat and Yala, as authorities were unable to provide sufficient security in the region which has seen more than 310 people including teachers killed this year, the official.

"We are terrified. We don't know what will happen to us," she told AFP. "Even though I was born here, I want to leave and work somewhere else because we are living in fear here."

She said teachers had taken to avoiding public places such as markets, shopping centers or outdoor cafes. --AFP