DANGEROUS WORK

Teaching in Thailand:

In an escalating campaign of violence here in the largely Muslim south of mostly Buddhist Thailand, government-run schools and the teachers who work in them have become particular targets of bombs and gunmen.

In the past year and a half, dozens of schools have been damaged or destroyed by arson. The local teachers union said 18 teachers had been killed in that period in the three most dangerous southern provinces, an average of one a month. Some give higher figures.

The Education Department said recently that it was buying used pistols and expediting permits so that teachers could arm themselves. [Free flak jackets are available to 3,000 teachers in the most dangerous areas, Reuters reported Tuesday.]

Sounds a lot like teaching in Australia.