Govt report highlights lax security at Category A schools

Multan district at bottom of list, Faisalabad district at top with least violations

LAHORE: Multan district is at the bottom of list when it comes to providing security to Category A schools; on the other hand, Faisalabad has the least violations.

A report of district-wise security arrangements at Category A schools across the province shows the lack of proper measures in place.



The results of the report showed that at the top of the list were Category A schools in Multan district, followed by Sialkot, Toba Tek Singh and Gujrat. On the other end of the spectrum, Faisalabad district had the fewest number of vulnerable schools, followed by Khushab, Jhelum and Attock.

Some of the most common security violations were a lack of scanner, walk through gates and snipers. Moreover, 96 schools in the province did not even have a boundary wall; 70 of these schools were in Vehari district alone.

Taking the findings of the report into consideration, on August 16 the Punjab School Education Department (SED) issued a letter to all the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) at the District Education Authorities (DEAs) across all 36 districts in the province.

The letter informed the officials of the findings of the audit. “Please find attached herewith a list of schools earlier received from Additional Inspector General of Police, Special Branch, Lahore showing a lack of necessary security measures in schools as identified by the Special Branch in its survey report. The same was shared with the respective district through the office of the director of public instructions for necessary action/compliance as per standard operating procedures,” the letter read.

The letter further instructed officials to furnish a compliance report. “You are, therefore, requested to furnish consolidated action taken/compliance report to this office in light of the existing SOP/directions issued from time to time,” the letter read.

It added that the CEOs had three working days to submit their report.



The letter has been marked important and urgent by the department, while copies of the notification have been forwarded to all the deputy commissioners Punjab and the director of public instructions.

The department also requested the public instructions director to liaison with district officials to expedite the submission process of the reports regarding the action taken.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2018.