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(above) A convoy of teachers, escorted by the army, passes by students as they leave school.

(right) A teacher shows the gun he says he always carries,even when teaching, at Ban Klong Chang Elementary School,Pattani. The teacher said he had narrowly escaped twoattacks by insurgents and that he was afraid for his life.Parents and students said teaching quality has decreaseddue to increased anxiety and security concerns of theteachers. “The teachers are not focusing on the teaching,”one mother said.

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An army soldier plays with students at Ban Pakaluesong ElementarySchool, Pattani. Since November 2006, either army soldiers orparamilitary Rangers have lived in a camp established in the schoolcompound. A local grandmother with six school-aged children toldHuman Rights Watch that they had all been moved from the school“because my grandchildren were scared of the soldiers.”

The insurgents, who view the educational system as a symbolof Thai Buddhist state oppression, have burned and bombedgovernment schools, harassed and killed teachers, andspread terror among students and their parents. The vastmajority of teachers killed have been ethnic Thai Buddhists,and their deaths are often intended as a warning to others.Yet Muslim teachers have not been spared; insurgents havealso targeted Muslim teachers at government schools, andIslamic school administrators who resist insurgents’ efforts touse classrooms for indoctrination and recruiting. In someareas, insurgents have also pressured Malay Muslim familiesnot to send children to government schools.

The government faces the challenge of protecting children andteachers. Yet in some villages, government security forceshave set up long-term military and paramilitary camps orbases in school buildings and on school grounds, interferingwith education and student life and potentially attractingattacks as much as deterring them. When security forces havesuspected that insurgents are using Islamic schools to hide orshelter, or that insurgents are seeking to indoctrinate school

s tuden t sinto theirseparatisti d e o l o g yand recruitn e wsupportersa n df i g h t e r s ,t h e

government’s response has included raids on schools,involving mass arbitrary arrests of students. Some raids haveturned violent, endangering students and teachers. Suchheavy-handed tactics may succeed in only further alienatingthe Muslim Malay community from the government.

The result is that students, teachers, and schools are caughtin the untenable position of facing a risk of violence from bothinsurgents and government security forces. As the principal ofan Islamic school told Human Rights Watch: “It is very difficultto stay in my position—in the middle…. [I]f you try and stay in

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A paramilitary Ranger with groceries walks by studentsat Pakaluesong Elementary School. About 30 Rangerslive in a camp established in the school grounds.

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A Royal Thai Army soldier who is part of an armedteachers' escort plays with students at Ban PakalusongElementary School, Pattani. Since November 2006,either army or paramilitary soldiers have lived in acamp established in the school compound.

© 2010 David Hogsholt/Reportage by Getty Images

“I don’t want my children to studywhere there are soldiers. I fear that thepresence of the soldiers will bringtrouble to the school and … will bringconsequences for the children,including violence.” A local mother told Human Rights Watchwhy she refused to send her fourchildren to the school

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A bullet hole is visible in the door of a residential hut in a pondok, anIslamic school, in Yala. Paramilitary Rangers raided the pondok whilelooking for an insurgent.

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A helmet sits on a sandbagged wall of the barracks housing 26 soldiersat Ban Samala Elementary School, Ban Samala.