Thread: Looks like you teachers aint gonna get the gun of your choic

Guns for teachers move shot down
Published on July 08, 2005

Education Minister Adisai Bodharamik said yesterday his ministry does not have a policy to encourage teachers in the three southern border provinces to buy and carry guns, or to finance their gun buying.Adisai said that if teachers in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces wanted to buy and carry guns to protect themselves, it was their business, and had nothing to do with the ministry.

He said the ministry would not subsidise the purchase of guns for teachers in the three southern provinces.

Adisai’s deputy, Rung Kaewdaeng, announced on Wednesday that the ministry would buy 800 guns from the Interior Ministry at half price and then sell them to teachers at half the price the ministry paid.

Rung earlier came out in support of the idea of arming teachers in the southern border provinces, a move that prompted criticism from those who feel that carrying guns is not appropriate for teachers.

Adisai officially contradicted Rung yesterday.

“The Education Ministry will not spend its budget to buy guns for teachers. Our main policy is against arming teachers. It will be an individual matter for teachers who want to carry guns,� Adisai said.

He said he was concerned that if teachers borrowed money to buy guns, they would land themselves further in debt as guns cost at least Bt40,000 apiece.

The ministry will simply coordinate with the Interior Ministry to help teachers obtain gun-carrying licenses, he said.

Some teachers’ cooperatives in the border provinces said many teachers had applied for loans to buy guns.

Jatupong Daengpeng, manager of the Yala Teachers’ Saving Cooperative, said about 400 teachers had applied for loans to buy guns since November 2004. Forty of those were submitted at the end of June, he said.

Lerpong Kittiwutthipong, manager of Pattani Teachers’ Saving Cooperative, said the organisation had approved Bt20 million in loans for teachers to buy guns.

Meanwhile, the ministry has told teachers in the three provinces to register for transfers from July 4 to 10 if they want.

As of yesterday, Adisai said, 397 teachers had applied for transfers, but none of them wanted to transfer out of the three provinces.

The teachers wanted to be transferred to other schools closer to their homes within the region. He said 233 teachers wanted to be transferred to a different education zone while 164 teachers wanted a transfer within their current education zone.

Adisai said he believed no more than 1,000 teachers would seek transfers after the deadline.

The ministry will distribute two-way communication radios to all schools in the three southern border provinces so that they can monitor the situation in the region.

“The schools’ personnel will feel assured that they can reach their peers in other areas when they need to,� Adisai said.

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