Southern Thailand where the Malay-speaking population is a very
substantial majority.
3.2 Education
Thailand has imposed Thai as the exclusive language of instruction in
public schools in the southern provinces.23 Islamic education and the
Malay language are to be taught as distinct subjects, and not as part of the
general state curriculum.24 Whilst Thai-Buddhist students are afforded the
advantage and benefit of using their mother tongue as the language of
instruction in public schools, Malay students are denied this advantage or
benefit, thus indicating that they are receiving something ‘less’: they do
not enjoy education in their own language, a form of favouritism which is
obviously very far from being neutral or equal from a linguistic and
cultural point of view.
Studies focusing on public education have proven that instruction in the
mother tongue of a child is a more effective in ensuring a high level of
literary accomplishment than instruction in another tongue.25 On a similar
note, the number of Malay students decreases dramatically in the transition
from primary to secondary levels. The large majority of Malay students
who attend public schools drop out after three or four years,26 with one of
the chief reasons their inability to cope with a syllabus that uses an almost
alien language for most of them. Other reasons include an opposition to
secular education because religious education is perceived as more
important, or a resistance to public education as public schools are thought
of as a technique used by the state to advance their assimilation agenda.27
As a consequence, the southern provinces produce the lowest scores in
national examinations.28 Inevitably, the Malays’ low educational
attainment brings about adverse repercussions on their employment
opportunities.