Renewed fighting between Thai and Cambodian troops in February and April this year were unexpected incidents that caused more concern about risk of villagers on the border communities. New landmines being planted during the incidents have threatened villagers along the border in addition to the old time landmines installed for more than 30 years during the civil war in Cambodia.

In order to prevent the harm of these underground silent hazards on border villagers, COERR Surin Field Office deems it necessary to start the training in Mine Risk Education in border schools.  Therefore,
4 schools in Surin Province have been trained in mine awareness during August 22-25, 2011.
The beneficiaries of these training were 514 school children and 19 teachers.

Schoolchildren in Ban O-Talan, Buached District are paying attention to the training

The training contents include the history of landmines, types and characters of landmines and unexploded ordnance, the locations where landmines and UXO are existed, how to behave when entering the unfamiliar sites or mine-prone areas, how to mark the landmine-warning area if landmines are found,
then report to parents, community head and responsible authority for immediate clearance.

Ban O-Talan Schoolchildren observe the picture of landmines and write down their observation

Thanks to the Handicap International (HI) who provided the posters and boards about landmine information to help participants understand about the training contents better.

COERR is also grateful for school principals and teachers who are fully aware of the dangers of landmines and cooperate well in the mine precaution and prevention training.

The Ban Charas School’s Headmaster Assistant is delivering the opening speech to their students and teachers. Ban Charas is also located in the border district of Buached in Surin Province

Ban Charas schoolchildren are watching the slides about landmine awareness

The training is aimed at providing awareness for children safety.  In addition the mine awareness handbooks with cartoon illustration telling messages of mine danger, how to avoid landmines, etc.
have been produced and given to all students to enable them to transfer knowledge to parents,
family members, friends and neighbors in their community.

Mine Risk Education for Children in Ban Charas school in Buached District

To make the informative contents attractive to schoolchildren, a video presentation has been shown,
in which the danger of landmines is presented.  Some other stories are also added in order to convince them of caring for their beloved community and motherland.

School children and boy scouts in Ban None-thong school in Kabcherng District of Surin Province are watching VDO about landmines and Thailand territory concerns

Pretest and posttest are used as tools to evaluate schoolchildren’s level of understanding about landmines’ danger and precaution.

A MRE Training has been organized in Ban Nonethong School in Kabcherng District, which is one of the four bordering districts of Surin Province

Another MRE training held in Ban None Sawan School, also located in Kab Cherng, the bordering district

Some of Students and teachers who attended the MRE Training in Ban None Sawan School
in Kab Cherng District

According to the Thailand Mine Action Center, there were 1,252 landmine victims until 2008. Since 2009, there have been 48 victims including 2 death and 11 amputated. Therefore, the Mine Risk Education is necessary to remind the villagers of such dangers.

Surin Province has been divided in 17 districts, of which 4 districts in the south (namely, Kab Cherng, Buached, Sangkha and Phanom Dongrak, share their 90 kms. long border with Cambodia. According to the Ministry of Interior on December 31, 2010, the total population is 1,381,761, including 691,425 men and 690,226 women.