Gearing up for school: Bannu admin bars morning assembly for two months

Step taken as a part of measures to increase security at educational institutes

SWABI/ BANNU:

As a part of measures taken to tighten security at schools and colleges, the district administration of Bannu has instructed all educational institutes to refrain from holding morning assemblies for two months. 

The district administration on Sunday issued a security policy for all educational institutes following winter vacations. It states that there will be no morning assembly for two months, boundary walls are to be raised to 13 feet and security guards are to be hired by the institutes. Moreover, under the policy, the school administration will be allowed to carry arms on campus, while barbed wire should be installed on top of boundary walls.



All students and staff will be checked at main gates, while private vehicles will not be allowed to enter schools. The district administration has also sent a letter to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government asking for financial support.

K-P Elementary and Secondary Education Director Rafiq Khattak said security instructions have been issued to all schools. He clarified that barring morning assembly was not the provincial government’s order and this was a step taken by the district administration on its own.

Swabi security    

In a bid to ensure complete safety and security at Karnal Sher Khan Cadet College, the Swabi district police officer (DPO) held a meeting with the principal of the institute and other senior officials.

Swabi DPO Sajjad Khan visited various blocks and departments of Karnal Sher Khan Cadet College and proposed several measures to tighten security at the institute.

Later, Khan and Principal Brigadier (retd) Muhammad Latif held a detailed meeting. They discussed security measures for students inside and outside the institute as well as their commute between college and home. The meeting was also attended by the cadet college’s administrative officers Afzal Abbas and Yousaf Shah.

Officials also visited Swabi University and Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute (GIKI) where they found arrangements unsatisfactory.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.