Foolproof security of both government and private schools is a must to save our future generation and in this regard the first step should be to compile an exhaustive data about schools, their staff, including private transporters’ staff running schools buses and vans.
Human rights attorney and chief of Madadgaar helpline for women and children, Zia Ahmed Awan said that after the sad Peshawar school incident, parents all over the country were anxious about the safety of their school going children. He said Karachi was a sensitive city with hundreds of thousands of educational institutions’ special focus to foil any conspiracy of terrorists. He said the government should form proper standard operating procedures (SOPs) regarding security of schools and implement them properly.
He said the record of drivers and conductors of private schools transport should be complied painstakingly and these people should be verified from police so that their criminal background, if any, could be checked. He said similar data about school teaching and non-teaching staff should be made as a precautionary measure. He said encroachments and vendors outside the schools should be removed. He said there should be separate entry and exist gates of schools and suspicious visitors should not be allowed to enter school premises at any cost. He said the government should enhance security and police patrolling in areas around schools.
Awan said besides schools, colleges and universities, the overall security situation also needed a serious consideration. He said proper deployment of police forces for security of general people was necessary so that they could feel them safe and secure. He said the government should form a separate authority to regulate the security-related issues of schools and public places in Karachi.
Haleem Adil Sheikh, President of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q), said every parent was concerned about the security of their school-going children. He said sadly the government and private educational institutions in Karachi were yet to ensure foolproof security for students.
Sheikh suggested that the government should form a proper committee comprising all stakeholders to ensure foolproof security of all schools, be they are private or government, so that they could ensure safety of each student, as all children are precious irrespective of the social and economic class of their parents.