Fool’s security: Cameras that don’t record, guards that don’t detect

Rawalpindi educational institutions remain “vulnerable” amid higher threats.

RAWALPINDI:

The security gadgets installed in the public sector colleges, in the wake of terror threats is still not fully functional, rendering the students, acedemic and non-acedmic staff of these educational institutions vulnerable, it has been learnt.

“The killing of al Qaeda cheif Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad this week has further increased the threats for common man as well as for the educational institutions,” said a professor of Government Degree College for Boys Satellite Town. In most of the colleges the security cameras were not fully functional, he added.

A visit to different colleges in the garrison city revealed that most of the security cameras are not working and security guards have not been given metal detectors to scan the guests.

It was in 2009, when the Punjab Government directed the heads of all educational institutions, both public and private sector, to enhance their security after the terrorist organisations extended their threats.

Subsequently, the government directed the public sector institutes to place barriers in front of the school entrances, raise the height of boundary walls, install security cameras and provide metal detectors to the gatekeepers and reinforce the number of guards, to provide a safer environment to the students.

A lecturer at Asghar Mall Degree College said the cameras are installed but no recording are being made. Barriers have been placed but the keepers do not have metal detectors. “The administration of the colleges and the education department has gone relax and seem unconcerned about the renewed threats he said.

The situation at girls’ colleges, however, is conventionally tight as no outsider is allowed without proper checking and identification. “But at the colleges for boys, visitors are not often properly checked,” he added.

President of Rawalpindi chapter of Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association, Muhammad Ilyas Qureshi, said that better arrangement were required in what he termed as “precarious” circumstances. “The terrorists did not even spare educational institutes in the capital, so we should be more vigilant,” he said.

Qureshi was of the view that metal detectors were not available to the guards, but on spot vigilance was being carried out through the functional security cameras. Regular power breakdowns and shortage of storage capacity can be some of the reasons for absence of proper recording by the cameras, he added.

Two years ago, the Punjab Government directed all heads of the colleges to assure certain security measures and they were allowed to utilise the available funds for this purpose, said Rana Javed Deputy Director Colleges Rawalpindi.

The official said they had called a meeting of the principals of all colleges in Rawalpindi and the concern would be taken up with them and all out efforts would be made to address the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2011.