Government injects 65 million baht into religious schools in the South

The government has launched a programme to overhaul religious schools in Thaialnd's three southern-most provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, which have been dogged by violence for the past months.

Some 2,000 mosques in the three southernmost provinces having operated their own religious schools, or Tadika, for younger students have been allocated 65 million baht to help improve their management, and to boost the teachers’ morale, Deputy Interior Minister Sutham Saengpratoom told TNA yesterday.

Each mosque with a Tadika will receive 1,000 baht a month from the government towards their monthly expenditure, and 2,000 baht a month for each of their religious teachers, Mr. Sutham said.

The money will be distributed to the mosques in the near future, he added.

Mr. Sutham is the head of a government committee in charge of improving Muslim religious schooling in the South.

The committee discussed strategies to improve the quality of southern religious schools on Wednesday.

The committee agreed to offer awards for the best Tadika and the best religious teacher in each of the 33 districts in the three provinces.

The award will be presented to the selected Tadika and teacher during the southern educators’ conference planned to be held twice a year – in December and August.

The government has seen overhauling the religious schools in the South as an important means of preventing the distortion of religious teaching and helping defuse the situation in Thailand’s southern border region.