Proposal includes safety measures such as armed guards, metal detectors, security fences and emergency communication systems
United Nations Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown on Tuesday proposed a plan for school security in Pakistan including improved safety measures, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
The former British premier held talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to make schools safer in the wake of the Peshawar school attack which left more than 150 students and faculty members dead.
Brown stated that he wants to help schools “stand up to terrorist violence”. His proposal was followed by an agreement with Premier Sharif to improve the security situation of schools.
The proposal included safety measures such as armed guards, metal detectors, security fences, emergency communication systems and more.
The security plan being promoted by Brown was devised by the education charity, World at School, focusing on the best safety practices being used in parts of Pakistan or conflict zones in other countries.
The practice calls for creating peace zones around schools in negotiation with the local community and religious leaders. There are also proposals for a systematic approach to safety including security checkpoints, boundary walls and razor wire. The proposals also call for strategic placement of armed guards on vantage points like rooftops.
Concern over school transport was also raised and calls for buses to be checked daily for explosive devices. The report further says that if schools are attacked, there must be a way of quickly calling for assistance and alerting other schools.
The safety proposals also suggested that smaller schools in isolated area could be brought closer or moved to areas where better security can be provided.
The UN envoy also called upon the international community to help fund security improvements for schools. According to Brown, measures to make schools safer will “reassure parents and pupils that everything is being done to counter extremist threats”.
A spokesperson for PM Sharif “reiterated his personal commitment” to working with Brown to improve the security of children in school.
There has also been a rise in deliberate attacks on schools and colleges in Nigeria as well by Boko Haram extremists.
Later this year, the UN envoy is expected to support international proposals to give schools and places of education a protected status during military operations.
According to the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown, the UN envoy said: “In the year 2015 every boy and girl should be at school, safely, and no one should be prevented from an education. We cannot stand by and see more children too afraid to learn and schools shut down. Even in the world’s most dangerous places we must now establish the right of all children to schooling and make a new idea of ‘education without borders’ a reality.”
Education in Pakistan has suffered more attacks than any other country. In the last five years, there have been more than a thousand attacks on schools in Khyber Pakhtunkha alone.
