Securing educational institutes: CADD issues yet another directive as work remains incomplete

First directive to raise walls around schools was issued after APS Peshawar attack last year

ISLAMABAD: Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Minister of State Usman Ibrahim’s office on Thursday issued another directive to ministry officials concerning the completion of boundary walls around educational institutes in the federal capital.

A press release issued by his office on Thursday said that a meeting was held on Tuesday to discuss the latest status of raising of boundary walls around 23 educational institutions functioning under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), Islamabad.

This is the fifth such directive issued since December 16, 2014 when Army Public School was attacked in Peshawar. Later, in January Rs200 million were announced for ensuring security. The plan included erecting boundary walls around 70 schools and colleges, which was later reduced to 27 and now to 23 institutes.

The CADD secretary along with senior officers of the ministry and other representatives of the FDE, Planning and Development Division and the Pak-Public Works Department (PWD) also attended the meeting. The same individuals have been attending these meetings since the first directive was issued.

Since then a meeting every month ends with directions from the minister and then silence prevails.

This time, the minister was told by the CADD staff that 23 educational institutes had been selected for up-gradation, construction and repair of boundary walls. The amount of money had been reduced to Rs182 million.

The whole process has seen a number of hitches including a tussle between the PWD and the CADD over contracts and initiation of construction work. This also included higher estimates of the work given by the PWD to the CADD.

Moreover, applications for installment of security cameras by various companies were also rejected for lack of transparency in their tenders and calls were made for renewal of competitive process for award of contracts.

In May, in a separate meeting the minister announced to empower the educational institutions to purchase security equipment on their own. It has been now decided that the PWD will be responsible for all the purchases as well as execution of work.

The press release said that the minister directed the CADD officials to expedite the process and initiate the process of bidding under the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, so that quality and transparency could be ensured. “He directed the FDE to make an execution plan within two days. The boundary walls of these institutions should be raised to 8 feet within two months,” the press release reads. This is more or less exactly the same as had been said in the earlier statements released to the media by the ministry.

The minister said that respective heads of the educational institutions would be responsible for the quality of work. The director of the monitoring team will ensure progress according to plan, Usman Ibrahim was quoted as saying.

The CADD Secretary, Hanif Khalid cited various problems in swift execution of the plan proposed in the earlier meetings such as issues with the PWD and later objections about the PPRA. “Now the issues are almost resolved and the PWD will soon start work,” he said.

A senior official privy to the development observed that red-tape at different levels including CADD had been a hurdle in implementation of the plan. “These elements want to take all matters into their own hands,” he claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2015.