Despite plunging morale and fears for their safety, teachers in the most dangerous region in Thailand on Wednesday promised not to dessert their students for safer schools.
"Teachers here will never abandon their teaching duty and the three southern border provinces until death take them away from their students," said Kritsana Warattanawong, director of Ban Kae Na School in Muang district of Narathiwat.
He was speaking on behalf of a meeting of 700 teachers after a one-minute silence in memory of their colleagues who have been killed on duty on Wednesday, Teachers' Day, when schools were closed.
Teachers in Pattani province hold a cemony in memory of their colleagues on Teachers' Day. (Photo by Abdullah Benjakat)
Narathiwat is one of the three southern provinces battered by violence. The ceremony was held in the conference room of Nara Sikhalai School in Narathiwat's Muang district.
Teachers in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala held merit-making ceremonies in their provinces for 157 teachers who have sacrificed their lives since the separatist violence returned to the border region in January 2004.
Teachers in the three provinces and southern parts of adjoining Songkhla have worked in fear since the trouble returned.
One of the most remembered cases is Juling Pongkummul, a 24-year-old teacher from Chiang Rai province who dedicated her life to teaching in Narathiwat but was abducted, savagely beaten and then died after eight months in a coma in 2005.
She did not have a chance to observe Teachers' Day but her parents, Mr Soon and Mrs Khammee, were making sweets on Wednesday for a group of cyclists riding in a campaign of support for the safety of teachers in the border region and in memory of their daughter. They started their trip in Bangkok and were due to reach her home at Ban Pong Noi in Doi Luang district of Chiang Rai on Thursday.
Her parents said the sweets would given in appreciation for the cyclists' efforts.
Teachers in other provinces including Chiang Mai, Trang in the South and Surin in the Northeast used the occasion on Wednesday to show support on their colleagues working in the restive border region.
Teachers in Narathiwat province observe one minute of silence to pay repect to those who died in the far South. (Photo by Wadao Harai)
"Today is Teachers' Day. We and other teachers in the country would like to use this day to send our love and moral support to teachers in the three border provinces for their fight and dedication in not leaving their students," Chusak Sahutanai, a teacher at Ban Trumdom in Lamduan district in Surin province, said.
"We bless them, with hopes of happiness and safety. We appreciate their work in teaching their students to grow up to be good citizens and we hope for peace to return to the southern border soon," he said.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra promised more budget funding and facilities to improve the livelihood of teachers and help prepare them for the advent of the Asean Community in December 2015.
Ms Yingluck also undertook to improve welfare benefits for teachers so they could have a better life and live in dignity.
"I would like to use Teachers' Day to thank all teachers in the country and pay respect to teachers in the southern border region who have sacrificed their lives," she told teachers meeting at Kurusapa in Bangkok.