Schools failing to upgrade security will be sealed

Karachi
Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui warned on Friday schools would be sealed if they failed to comply with the government’s orders to upgrade their security and collect data on all staff members.
He told the schools to place barbed wire on their boundary walls and maintain a complete record of people entering their premises.
Special stickers should be issued for school vans and parents’ vehicles while bus stops and encroachments around schools should be removed, Siddiqui said while chairing a meeting with the deputy commissioners of all districts.
He directed that coordination should be enhanced among the law enforcement agencies, administrative officers and school managements. He also asked the schools to use CLI telephone sets, set up emergency exits in classrooms and school buildings and train teachers and students in quickly leaving the premises during any emergency situation.
The meeting decided that monitoring teams comprising administrative officers would be formed to ensure security for schools across the city.
The teams will work under the supervision of the deputy commissioners and visit different schools on a daily basis.
Among those who attended the meeting were Additional Commissioner Muhammed Aslam Khoso, Deputy Commissioner (Malir) Qazi Jan Muhammed, Deputy Commissioner (Central) Dr Saif ur Rehman, Deputy Commissioner (East) Agha Pervez, Deputy Commissioner (South) Muhammed Saleem Rajput, Deputy Commissioner (Korangi) Asif Jan Siddiqui and Additional Deputy Commissioner (West) Syed Shujaat Hussain.—PPI
Our correspondent adds: Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul- Ebad told a meeting at the Governor House that all educational institutions would reopen on January 12 after the winter vacations for administrative purposes, while academic activities would resume in schools where all security arrangements had been completed.
Chairing the second such meeting in as many days, he said the administrations of all schools had been directed not to resume teaching activities till the finalisation of security arrangements on their premises.
The governor said the school administrations should observe all the due safety precautions under the government’s devised plan before the resumption of teaching activities. He noted that a security audit committee had started functioning under the Karachi commissioner to implement the plan.
He said the school administrations would be bound to get security clearance from law-enforcement agencies for all teaching and non-teaching staff, as well as for people providing canteen, transport and other auxiliary services.
The governor said the administrations had been told to raise the boundary walls around the schools to at least eight feet with additional two feet high fencing by use of barbed wire.
The administrations should each constitute a committee comprising representatives of the management and parents to oversee security affairs of schools, he said, adding that they should also form vigilance committees comprising security staff, non-teaching staff and senior students.
The school administrations are also required to install an emergency alarm system linked to the nearest police station on the pattern of banks.
They have been told to properly keep a record of all visitors of schools.
The schools can hold functions at their premises only after getting cooperation from police and Rangers personnel.
Extraordinary security measures are being taken across Sindh in the wake of last month’s terror attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar.