Safety first: Campuses sealed for not complying with security SOPs

Rescue-1122 has launched civil defence training for students in Punjab

BAHAWALPUR: Police sealed two educational institutions in Bahawalpur and several schools and colleges in Rahim Yar Khan; while 40 institutions in Sargodha were issued notices for not having proper security arrangements.

The Islamia University Bahawalpur’s Railway Campus and the Post Graduate Degree College at One Unit Chowk in Bahawalpur have been sealed. Police have evacuated the institutions’ premises and have directed their administrations to bring the security arrangements up to scratch by January 31.

DSP Shafqat Atta said after the tragedy at Charsada University, the Punjab Police had been directed to pull out all the stops in securing educational institutes in the province. He said Islamia University Bahawalpur’s Railway Campus and the Post Graduate Degree College had been issued several warnings and notices to improve their security arrangements. They were sealed because they had failed to comply with the directions, he said. “They will reopen only after they complete the arrangements.”

The elementary schools district officer, the district monitoring officer and a team of intelligence officials checked educational institutions on Church Road, Satellite Town, and Dari Sanghi in Rahim Yar Khan to see whether they had complied with the instructions issued to them regarding security. They found the arrangements at Holy Cross Mary Coaching Centre, the Allied School, the Standard College and Al Noor Boys Campus in Satellite Town unsatisfactory. The administrations of these institutions were issued written notices and orders to improve security arrangements by January 31.

Sargodha DPO Sajjad Hassan Manj said they had issued notices to 40 public and private educational institutes which had not complied with the security SOPs. Notices were served to the Quaid-i-Azam Law College, the Arqam Model College, the Comprehensive Girls College, the University of South Asia campus, the Punjab College, the Government Degree College for Women, the ILM College, the Government High School in Hyderabad Town, the Dherema Government School and several others.

Training exercises

The provincial government has announced that all students will undergo civil defence training so that they are equipped to deal with any untoward incident.

In this regard, Rescue-1122 has trained more than 35,000 students of various colleges and universities in Faisalabad district.  Emergency Services District Officer Ihtesham Wahla said that Rescue-1122 had organised a number of seminars and mock exercises on safety measures that students can take in such situations. Students have been trained in administering first aid and on using emergency exits in the case of an untoward incident.

Seminars and mock exercises in this regard have been held so far at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, the Punjab Medical College, the Government College for Women University Madina Town, the Sargodha University Campus on Satiana Road, the Government Islamia College Sargodha Road, the Government Post Graduate College in Peoples Colony, the SOS Village on Canal Road, the Punjab College, the Shiblee College and the Imperial College.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2016.