Fortify them: District South schools given special security instructions

Confusion prevails as different government departments issue separate directions

KARACHI:

District South police have identified academic institutions being run by defence forces as well as missionary and other high-profile schools as the most vulnerable and 'soft targets' for terrorist attacks.

To avert the likelihood of such terror attacks, the district's police chief, Abdul Khalique Shaikh, has issued guidelines to be followed by the schools. The eight-page document, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, lays out the standard operating procedures for the academic institutions located in Defence Housing Authority, Clifton, Saddar, Lyari, Jamshed Town and Keamari that fall within the jurisdiction of over 30 police stations in the district.

These guidelines are to be followed by schools in District South in addition to the general directives issued by the Sindh directorate of inspection and registration of private institutions on January 6, 2015.

The district police chief has asked the school authorities to put up 16-foot high-boundary walls with barbed wires on top, walkthrough metal detectors at the entrances, CCTV cameras along the boundary as well as inside the premises with recording facility of at least the past 15 days, centralised public announcement systems as well as an alarm system between the security personnel and the classrooms and deploy security guards equipped with walkie-talkies for communication.

The school authorities will also provide the layout plan of their institution to the sub-divisional police officer as well as the station house officer of the relevant police station in advance. The antecedents of all the staff being employed in the schools should also be verified by the country's intelligence agencies as well as the local police.

Security fee

Meanwhile, the Sindh directorate of inspection and registration of private institutions warned on Wednesday that the schools that are planning to impose an additional fee on parents to implement the latest security instructions will face stern disciplinary action.

"We have been receiving complaints that a few school administrations have notified parents about their plans to charge an additional monthly fee for security measures," Sindh private institutions director-general Dr Mansoob Hussain Siddiqui told The Express Tribune. "This [act] will be seen as a violation of their registration with the directorate as these security instructions should be considered as the standard operating procedures to run a school."

However, Syed Khalid Shah, chairperson of the All Private Schools Management Association, said that a majority of the schools cannot afford to beef up their security unless they increase the fee or receive a grant from the government.

"The government and the security agencies have bombarded the school administrations with various instructions in such a manner that the responsibility of imparting education has now been placed on the back burner," said Shah.

The association has, however, asked the school administrations to not increase the fee. "Instead, the schools should implement the security instructions that they can afford and inform the government for assistance on the matters that they cannot meet the expenses of," Shah told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2015.