The armed forces, still struggling to curb the almost daily attacks, have encouraged schoolteachers to carry guns for self-protection and provided them with firearm-training.

Thousands of teachers in the southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat have been armed and trained in the proper use of handguns.

Since then thousands of teachers have been armed, although the great majority have either chosen not to carry guns or cannot afford the expense of owning firearms.

This year, the army will provide training to another 1,000 teachers as it is believed that if teachers are capable of fighting back, insurgents will have second thoughts about attacking them as they travel to and from their schools.

Although police officers and soldiers already provide armed escorts for teachers in areas infiltrated by insurgents, they do not have enough personnel to ensure that each and every teacher gets an escort.

The move to arm teachers caused heated debate from the start as to whether it would promote greater safety for teachers or if it might spur invite even more attacks by insurgents. Some sceptics also fear for the safety of children and other personnel in schools where some teachers carry concealed weapons or keep guns in their offices.

There has been no conclusive answer to these questions.

Teacher unions, meanwhile, asked the Education Ministry recently to reimburse - either wholly or in part - teachers who feel the need for a firearm to protect themselves.

In one respect, one can hardly blame teachers, particularly those who have to work in areas prone to insurgent attacks, for wanting to be able to defend themselves.

The brutal beating of Juling Panganmoon, a female teacher at Kuchign Reupah School in Narathiwat who was attacked by a frenzied mob that took her and a colleague hostage in May, convinced many teachers of the need to arm themselves.

Thai society could spend months or years debating ways to address the "root causes" of the insurgency in the deep South, and take into consideration the grievances of militants/Malay insurgents in order to bring peace to the region.

But we as a society must make it clear to militants, insurgents or terrorists that teachers - whose job is educating local children, Muslim and Buddhist - are not legitimate targets of people whatever their grievances.

No one can deny that teachers in this violence-prone region need to be better protected.

But proponents of the idea to arm teachers also need to be reminded that their proposal also has its downside. Stringent background checks must be conducted on individual teachers applying for a licence to carry concealed firearms to make sure that only responsible, emotionally-stable, and mentally sound people get to own a firearm.

Strict precautions must be put in place in school environments to make sure that guns are safely stored and kept out of the reach of curious children.

The privacy of gun-carrying teachers must also be carefully protected and not allowed to become targets for murder.

Most important of all, gun-carrying teachers must be provided with proper training regarding how to use their weapons properly so that they can actually defend themselves and other innocent people in the event that they are attacked by insurgents or people who want to harm them.