Educational institutions asked to fulfill security requirements

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has directed all the educational institutions not to reopen till they fulfill the security requirements.
The educational institutions were advised to revert to community policing by hiring retired personnel of armed forces.Briefing newsmen after provincial cabinet meeting at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday, Information Minister Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani stated that the cabinet had also decided to allow all the staff members of educational institutions to carry licenced weapons for self-defence. The students, he added, would not be allowed to carry arms.
The minister said the cabinet took several decisions for ensuring foolproof security of educational institutions. He said they had issued security guidelines to schools and colleges, which included installation of CCTV cameras, increasing the number of guards and fixing barbed wire on the boundary walls.
He said that after receiving lists from the education department regarding government-run schools, these would be renamed after the students and staffers who embraced martyrdom in the Army Public School tragedy.
He said there were 65,000 policemen in the province and it was impossible for the government to provide security to each and every school. “This is the reason the government had permitted the schools to revert to community policing,” he added.
Mushtaq Ghani said there were around 18,500 government and 8,000 private schools in the province whereas 8,000 to 10,000 unregistered schools had also been functioning.
“We have directed all the educational boards in the province to register the unregistered schools within a month,” he said. He added that none of the educational institutions would be permitted to charge security fee from students as it was their responsibility to provide security.
He said the cabinet was also briefed about the overall security of markets, hospitals and other public places and it was decided that community policing would also be introduced there.
He said the chief minister had directed the ministers and MPAs to visit schools in their respective areas to ensure that the security SOPs (standard operating procedures) were strictly followed.
Mushtaq Ghani said the cabinet endorsed the decision to provide Rs24,000 stipend per annum to unemployed degree holders who had completed 16 years of education or were graduates from seminaries.
He added that 5,217 applications were received in this regard, out of which 3,720 applicants fulfilled the laid down conditions.
He said investigation into the APS carnage had almost been completed as the masterminds and those who staged the attack had been identified. He said the masterminds of the attack were hiding in Afghanistan.
He said the federal government should make it clear to the Afghan government that either it should arrest the culprits and hand them over to Pakistan or Pakistan government should take steps for capturing them in Afghanistan.
The cabinet also approved the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities (Amendments)
2015 through which changes would be made in the existing law for reducing the tenure of vice-chancellors of public sector universities from four to three years.
He added that the amendment also provided for sending a vice-chancellor on forced leave for 90 days.
Mushtaq Ghani said the cabinet approved three bills related to labourers including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bonded Labour Abolition Bill, KP Prohibition of Employment of Children Bill and Shops and Other Establishments Bill.
He said the cabinet also approved the creation of a joint board for the Sarhad Development Authority (SDA) and Small Industrial Development Board (SIDB) and it would formulate policy and master plan for the merger of the two bodies into a single entity.
The cabinet also decided to name a bridge at Ustarzai Payan village after Lieutenant Wajihullah Khan, who embraced martyrdom during the military operation against militants in Khyber Agency.
The minister asked the federal government to pay the outstanding amount of approximately Rs300 billion to the province on account of its share from the net profit on hydel power generation and National Finance Commission Award so that the money could be utilised on improving security in the province.