Govt to prepare plan for sensitive areas, SHC told

Karachi
The government brought to the notice of the Sindh High Court on Friday a decision taken by a technical committee of the planning and development department that the education department should prepare projects in the first phase for areas declared sensitive by the home department in respect of the security of schools.
The education department has sent PC-I for security, building and raising the compound walls of 8,417 schools across the province at an estimated cost of Rs7636.09 million, according to a compliance report submitted to the high court by the additional education secretary.
Filing the report on a petition filed by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education Research and others seeking effective security for educational institutions in the province, the secretary said PC-Is were considered by the technical committee and it was decided that the education department should prepare projects for sensitive areas in the first phase. He said the deputy commissioners had been intimated about the decision.
For ensuring security for private schools, the additional secretary said instructions had also been issued to all heads of private institutions containing special security measures to face any untoward situation in schools and colleges.
The secretary submitted that a proforma containing security and safety measures were also sent to the educational institutions and many of the institutions assured that the proposed security steps were being implemented. adding that issuance of arms license cases to the private school administration were also under process with the home department.
The high court has directed the government to conduct a survey of all schools pinpointing which of the schools were more vulnerable to security threats and what safety measures had been adopted.
The court directed the education secretary and other authorities to examine whether the burden of such additional security was being passed on to the students and submit a report covering all such issues.
The petitioners submitted that after December 16 terrorism attack on the Army Pubic School in Peshawar that killed over 140 students and staffers, the educational institutions across the country were under threat of similar attacks by banned organisations.
They said that as per intelligence reports published in the media, welfare schools run by communities in Karachi were at a greater risk, and some private institutions and schools had also complained of receiving threats.
They said that Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Islamabad Capital Territory had formulated standard operating procedures and directed the school administrations to adopt measures, including raising the boundary wall topped with razor wire and installing CCTV cameras. However, they said, nothing had been done to promulgate such SOPs in Sindh.