SED wants another review of schools

According to SED letter, special branch found deficiencies in arrangements of institutes

LAHORE: Not satisfied with security arrangements, the Punjab School Education Department (SED) and special branch have called for a review at selected public and private schools in the A and A+ categories.

In a letter to all District Education Authorities (DEAs) Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), the SED said that the special branch examined the security arrangements of A and A+ category schools in the province after the audit conducted in November. According to the letter, deficiencies were found in arrangements of schools.

The letter further said, “In view of the facts narrated above, the present security situation of the country and sensitivity of the matter, the threat of terrorism at all educational institutions still persists. It is requested that foolproof security arrangements should be ensured for the safety of all educational institutions in Punjab, giving due weight to the recommendations of the special branch, in order to avert any untoward incident.”



The letter ordered a fresh security audit and the removal of deficiencies in the selected schools identified. “You (CEOs) are therefore, once again, requested that security audit of all A+ and A category schools should be conducted and deficiencies identified by the special branch should be removed within two days.”

Furthermore, it also asked for a certificate to indicate that all security measures had been taken as per the SOPs of the Home Department.

Earlier in November, a similar exercise was carried out. However, some schools were found not following the SOPs put in place for security of educational institutions.

The fresh audit wanted to check and address those issues identified earlier.

Before that, the Punjab government had directed officials to ensure security measures at Category A schools of the province remained in line with the recommendations of law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

According to the letter sent to all District Education Authorities (DEAs) Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), the Punjab School Education Department (SED) had ordered a fresh security audit to observe security measures as per standard operating procedures (SOPs) that were put in place.



“A fresh exercise regarding security audit of Category A of Public and Private Schools was conducted in the month of September, 2017, by the team of the Special Branch with the objective to examine the effectiveness of present security arrangements, security administration, threat and risk assessments etc.”

The letter asked the CEOs to implement the recommendations. It said that the threat of terrorism still persisted at all educational institutions.

The letter asked the DEA CEOs to conduct a security audit of schools in category A. “You are therefore requested that security audit of all Category A schools be conducted and sensitise the District Security Committee to ensure observance of all security measures as per SOPs of the Home Department.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2017.