Safety and Security Measures in Schools

After the incident of Bacha Khan University in Charsadda the provincial government in Punjab has taken several serious steps to level up the security measures in schools across the most populous province of Pakistan. A notification was released by the Government of Punjab in the midnight of 25^th January 2016 which ordered all schools, public and private, to be closed till Sunday, 31^st January. The reason given for the closure of schools was ‘severe cold’ whereas many believe that the actual reason behind the decision was perhaps terrorist threats to the education institutes. Most of the schools were opened on the following date; however, some of the private schools remained unopened amid security concerns.

The provincial and the federal governments are trying their level best to ensure schools’ security so that terrorists may not be able to breach school security systems.

SCHOOL SAFETY PLAN

The government has devised a school safety plan to ensure the safety of young generation. It has formulated a three level security plan for the security of education institutes. This includes high level security to the educational institutes run by military or those in posh areas; mid-level security to missionary as well as sensitive private schools; and normal security measures to be taken for the rest of the private and public schools. The District Coordination Officer (DCO) has directed the schools to ensure security by installing CCTV cameras and raising the boundary walls of educational institutes to eight feet with barbed wires atop. Many schools lack proper boundary walls while some have modest boundary walls which are vulnerable to any terrorist infiltration. Such schools are directed to take appropriate security measures. The schools are also ordained to arrange for the metal detectors on the gateways and every visitor be scrutinized before giving the entrance to the schools.

While talking to media Rana Mashood Ahmad Khan, Education Minister of Punjab, said on Monday that all the education institutes including schools, colleges and universities will be protected from every kind of terrorism.