While there is no progress from the Thai side regarding the peace dialogue with the southern separatist groups,

This is the second part of the study on the unrest situation in the three southern border provinces undertaken by Poonyawee Prachuablarp, an assistant judge and a law graduate of Chulalongkorn University.

Despite the latest car bomb attack in Yala townseat early this month and the risks of bombings and shootings by the separatists, many Buddhist residents in the municipal areas of the three southernmost provinces managed to free themselves from all the worries just to have fun a couple of days in celebrating Songkran festival.

Since the Education Ministry’s launch of the programme to reduce the classroom hours of students and to increase ex-curricular activities, a total of 95 schools in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat have joined the programme.

Safety concern has forced many teachers in the three southernmost provinces to ask for transfers out of the restive region whereas those who still remain teaching, their morale has substantially dropped raising a big question mark about the quality of education there.