Parents worried about safety of schoolchildren

Islamabad

Although the government has taken all possible measures to maintain law and order situation amid protests in the twin cities against hanging of Mumtaz Qadri, parents feel worried about safety of their school-going children.

Nasira Malik, a resident of Sector I-10, said that when her daughter got ready to go to school for examination on Monday, they got the news of street protests in the city.

“First we thought not to send her for examination but given the importance of the annual papers we were left with no option except for taking risk in this respect. The situation is still uncertain and we need proper security for our children,” she said.

It is pertinent to mention here that the twin cities are in the grip of scattered protests and some of the roads are still blocked for traffic. The administration has taken effective measures due to which overall law and order situation is quite satisfactory.

Chaudhry Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, a resident of Satellite Town, said that everyone should take care of life and property of other people and avoid to take such steps that create unrest in society.

Meanwhile, many private schools in the federal capital closed their campuses ahead of schedule on Monday over security concerns caused by the hanging of the killer of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer.

Some of them even announced there would be no classes even next morning. However, the government educational institutions operated normally.

Similar reports came in from the adjoining garrison city of Rawalpindi.

A senior bureaucrat, who wished not to be named, said shortly after reaching the office, he got an email from his little daughter’s school about the early closure of the campus.

“I quickly got in contact with the school’s administration, which insisted the campus would be closed at 12p.m. due to the possible law and order situation. While assuring me of the child’s safety on campus, the admin officer asked me to collect her (child) at the closing time,” he said.

Some parents were so panic-struck that soon after being informed about the early school closure, they rushed to the respective campuses and picked children amid resistance by the administration.

They insisted that for them, the minor children’s well-being was more importance than education.

However, others felt the children should be encouraged to face the 'difficult situations' bravely instead of being terrorised.

The watchdog for private education, PEIRA, expressed ignorance about the early school closure and said it didn’t issue any directives to the privately-owned educational institutions in this respect.

The principal of an elite school said the decision on whether to reopen campus on Wednesday would be made after reviewing the law and order situation.

She said the programmes planned for Monday and Tuesday like parent-teacher meetings had been rescheduled.

Meanwhile, many privately-owned organisations, especially those based abroad, closed their local offices soon after learning the post-Qadri execution protests. They asked members of their staff to leave offices and work from home.

The organisations said they would decide about the reopening of the premises after being satisfied that there was no threat to the life of staff members there.