Sonthi said he wanted to strengthen the office of local leaders, who play a vital role in assisting the central government to tackle rural problems.

Village headmen and kamnan might serve better in office if they did not have to contest elections as frequently as their counterparts in tambon and provincial administrative organisations, he said.

"I understand that village headmen and kamnan do not have the campaign resources available to candidates for local government at the tambon and provincial levels," he said.

With longer terms of office, village headmen and kamnan could act as the eyes and ears of the central government in thwarting attempts to undermine the country's main institutions, including the monarchy, he said.

Sonthi said the armed forces would start to work closely with local leaders in a bid to safeguard social peace, fight drug trafficking and deal with emerging security threats.

With the cooperation of local leaders, the authorities already saw improvement in drug suppression along the borders, he added.

The Army chief was speaking during an inspection of the Pha Muang forces stationed in Chiang Mai.

In Bangkok, Army Chief of Staff General Montri Sangkhasap said arson attacks on schools served no purpose other than to undermine the education of young people.

The students were the real victims when schools in the North, the Northeast and the South were torched, Montri said, reminding perpetrators that they would gain no public sympathy in view of the students' plight.

Regarding the prevention of such attacks, he said schools should toughen their security as a first step because it was impossible for the military and security forces to guard every single education institution.

Provincial teacher's union chairman Withaya Duangjai said teachers were not ready to assume the role of security guards for their schools.

He said that in his province of Nakhon Ratchasima, where the latest arson attacks occurred, less than 20 per cent of the 1,300 schools could hire custodians who also acted as security guards due to budgetary constraints.

"Teachers have the primary duty of teaching and in most rural schools they have too heavy a workload to be asked to do night shifts guarding school buildings," he said.

The majority of rural teachers are women and exempt from night duties, and if male teachers were ordered to guard schools then they would not get time with their families, he added.