SOUTHERN THAILAND: CONFLICT, CONFLICTING GOALS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BANGKOK 002226 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS; NSC FOR WALTON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL PTER TH SUBJECT: SOUTHERN THAILAND: CONFLICT, CONFLICTING GOALS HURTING EDUCATION AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT REF: BANGKOK 2149: NARATHIWAT BOMBING Sensitive but unclassified; please handle accordingly. Not for internet distribution. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Issues of identity, language, violence against teachers, and quality of instruction are some of the key challenges facing the educational environment and its impact on life in southern Thailand, according to academic, government, and NGO interlocutors we engaged in southern Thailand in late August. An exodus of qualified teachers after the separatist conflict began a more violent phase in January 2004 reduced the quality of education in state-run schools, and many well-to-do Buddhist families now opt to send their children to school outside the region. The majority of Malay Muslim parents choose to send their children to private religious schools, most of which now teach both religion and the state curriculum while receiving state funds, though concerns about the quality of instruction and the sufficiency of vocational preparation remain. This is the second of three cables reporting on key issues affecting Thailand's Deep South emerging from an August 16-19 trip to Thailand's three southernmost provinces. The first (reftel) touched on the lingering impact of the June 8 mosque massacre in Narathiwat; septel will address the nature of violence and perceptions of a lack of justice in the deep south. ¶2. (SBU) Comment: While insurgent attacks against teachers grab the headlines, the problems with the educational system preparing (or not) the next generation of southerners to succeed in a modern economy run deep. Central Thai authorities see education as a way of molding Thai citizens; Malay Muslim parents prioritize affirming their Muslim identity in their choice of schooling. The different educational approaches are symptomatic of what many perceive as the RTG's resistance to accepting the Malay Muslim ethnic identity within what it means to be Thai. End Summary and Comment. Education System Failing Southern Students -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Our interlocutors emphasized the educational challenges many Malay Muslims face in the South. Students in the three southern provinces of Narathiwat, Yala, and Pattani consistently score at the bottom of Thailand's 76 provinces on educational tests/indicators, Natthaphong Sirichana, Vice-Governor of Narathiwat for social and economic issues, with primary oversight of education, told us August 18. Many Malay Muslim students finishing the first six primary years cannot read or write Thai properly, Natthaphong lamented. He attributed the poor performance to two primary factors: students struggling with two languages; and frequent school closings due to the ongoing violence. ¶4. (SBU) The primary educational focus for most Malay Muslim families is reinforcement of their children's Muslim identity. The chairman of the Narathiwat Islamic Committee, Hajji Abdullozak Ali, told us August 18 that education was the biggest issue for Muslims in the South, even more important than living conditions. Vice-Governor Natthaphong asserted that only 20 percent of Muslim students in the three southern provinces attend state schools. He noted that most parents send their children to private Islamic schools because of their strong emphasis on religious education. ¶5. (SBU) Note: The vice-governor's figures do not appear to match official statistics from the Ministry of Education, based on our understanding of the Buddhist-Muslim population split in the three provinces; see statistics below in para ¶12. The private schools receive a per-student subsidy from the state, allowing students to attend for free. Most schools now teach religion in the morning and the state curriculum in the afternoon. Far fewer students attend the entirely private pondok schools which offer only religious instruction. BANGKOK 00002226 002 OF 003 ¶6. (SBU) The ongoing violence, particularly the history of attacks against teachers since 2004, has weakened the quality of instruction in the South at the primary school level and the total attendance numbers at university level. In addition to violence frequently interrupting school, 119 teachers have been killed in the three southernmost provinces in the past five years, with 52 of the casualties taking place in Narathiwat province, according to the head of the Narathiwat Teachers Federation, Sa-nguan Intharak. Fifty of the 52 in Narathiwat were Buddhist; the two Muslims were killed trying to protect Buddhist colleagues, added Sa-nguan. ¶7. (SBU) Shortly after the surge in violence began, approximately four thousand teachers took advantage of a government offer to leave the Deep South and relocate elsewhere, thereby diluting the quality of instruction. According to Sa-nguan, presently 80 percent of Narathiwat's teachers are from the province. Sa-nguan was pleased to report that no teachers were killed in Narathiwat in 2008/first half of 2009, which he attributed to defensive driving and weapons training provided under the Queen-sponsored Village Defense Force project. ¶8. (SBU) Buddhist families that can afford to are voting with their feet. Sa-nguan said that Thai Buddhist families in the south who can afford to send their children to private schools in Songkhla do so, primarily out of fear of harassment by Malay Muslim students. Sa-nguan,s own son has been picked on at school for not being a Muslim, but he said he felt the need to set an example for the Buddhist community by keeping his children in Narathiwat schools and not taking an offer to relocate elsewhere in Thailand. ¶9. (SBU) Since the violence escalated, many fewer students from Thailand's mid-South attend university or tertiary vocational education in Pattani and Yala. The mayor of Yala township, Phongsak Yingchoncharoen, told us that before 2004, Yala was the educational center of the South. Over the past five years, however, overall enrollment has dropped by ten thousand annually. Prince of Songkhla University enrollment has gone from a 70-30 Buddhist-Muslim mix ten years ago, to 50-50 five years ago, to 30-70 currently, according to several professors, as Buddhists from elsewhere in Thailand, including the mid-south, looked elsewhere for higher education options. Ideas for improvement: technology, textbooks, language -------------- -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Vice-Governor Natthaphong and two local education officials with him in the meeting stressed that limited IT resources in Narathiwat schools would further handicap their students at the university level. Natthaphong presented a wish list of requested educational assistance from the USG, mentioning USAID, student exchanges, and Peace Corps teachers to focus on scientific education, the teaching of English, and libraries. He added: "the poor don't need money, they only need the opportunity." ¶11. (SBU) Natthaphong's assistant emphasized that, to be successful, RTG plans had to comport with local traditions, because most Malay Muslim parents insisted on sending their children to Islamic schools. Teacher Federation head Sa-nguan also believed that the government needed to change its view of education in the Deep South, notably by producing textbooks that accurately teach the Koran and the history of Pattani. He said that most Islamic schools, including the pre-school/primary level "tadika" program, currently procure textbooks printed in Malaysia that offer, in his view, inaccurate instruction in fundamental tenets of the Koran and of local history that breed misunderstanding and mistrust. ¶12. (SBU) Several of our interlocutors emphasized the impact of language on education for Malay Muslim students. Vice-Governor Natthaphong said that because most students in the south speak mostly Malayu at home, their Thai language skills are lacking, and this limits their educational and BANGKOK 00002226 003 OF 003 vocational opportunities. This sentiment was echoed by Pakorn Prichawuthideth, director of the Narathiwat Community College and member of the Narathiwat Industry Council and Chamber of Commerce. Islamic Committee Chair Abdullozak Ali said that formal RTG recognition that the people in the south are Malay-Thai would be an important first step, coupled with a corresponding RTG decision to allow formal education in the central Malay dialect. That in turn would broaden opportunities for study and work for southern students, as well as facilitate communication with Indonesia and Malaysia. Currently, many southern students were forced to go abroad because they could not compete with students from Bangkok for entrance into Thailand's universities. Southern Private school statistics -------------- Type schools students State schools 921 209,482 Private religious/state 287 167,998 Private religious only 277 25,603 Pondok 398 25,000 (est) (Tadika centers 2014 230,656) Source: Thai Ministry of Education JOHN