Closure of Islamabad private schools
Islamabad leading private schools to remain closed
Islamabad, Nov 2: The leading private schools of the city have announced
extension in vacations as they were unable to fulfil the security measures
ordered by the government in order to ensure the safety of the students, while
the parents seems concerned over the current situation which is adversely
affecting the studies of their kids. Now the new date for opening of the
schools has been given 9th of November and the students have been assigned
homework in order to lessen the academic loss that they are facing due to the
closure of schools. The leading private schools which were scheduled to
open on Monday (today) had sent messages to the parents of its students on
Saturday evening informing them about the extension in vacations saying that
they were taking extreme security measures in the wake of security threats to
the educational institutions. The message regarding the extension in
vacations perturbed the parents of the students. "What kind of security
arrangements they are trying to make for the last one month?" asked a mother of
two kids studying in a leading private institution. She said the closure
of school was causing huge academic loss to the students while the
administration of the school seems unaware of it. For what we are paying to
school if we are to teach our kids by ourselves, she asked. She said that
the span of one month was more than enough to make security arrangements besides
the administration could not ensure foolproof security to a school, which was
facilitating hundreds of students. Another parent Mustafa Yawar said that
if the other schools could continue their studies then why not a few of these
schools could. "Every time they call parents to collect the homework for their
kids. Why are they collecting fee for?" he said. Yawar said that the
parents were asked to submit Rs50 few months back as the administration were to
issue security pass but it never happened. According to the media reports
the private schools were ordered by the special branch of the police to adhere
to the strict security standards which include verification of security guards
deployed at schools, stickers for school vehicles and office cards for the
employees. It also advises that school boundary walls be minimum eight feet
high. The prescribed security measures also include arms licences to all
owners of schools for security purpose. Schools concentrated in one area should
jointly arrange security. Walk-through gates are mandatory for schools where
student enrolment is over 1,000. Other schools shall place scanners at entry
points. The schools should also install CCTV cameras. These security
arrangements would be monitored by area police officer and
magistrates. The management of the private schools on the other hand
seemed perturbed over the situation as the security arrangements prescribed by
the police cost dearly to them. An official of a
leading private school said that the demand of extreme security measures by the
private organisations was just unfair. "The cost of walk-through gates
starts from Rs30,000 while the other arrangements including private security
guards, purchase of their weapons and security cameras and raising boundary
walls maximum eight feet is also very expensive," said the
official. Meanwhile Private School Network President Afzal Baber said
that majority of the private schools would start functioning from Monday while a
big number of schools have already been opened. "The Franchise schools
which are not more than five in numbers are not opening but they neither
contribute in literacy rate nor they have any significance in mainstream
educational system," he said. According to Baber, leading private schools
were not opening because they have already collected their fee for four months
in advance and they are not at all in hurry to complete their
syllabus. "If they were to collect fee in the month of November they
would have completed the security arrangements," he said while adding that the
huge money they were grabbing in the name of fee is quite enough to make
security arrangements.
Post your comments
Centres for special education to be set up soon
Islamabad: Ministry for Special Education has geared up the process of
establishing Special Education Centres across the country. Official
sources informed on Sunday that currently, the ministry is running its training
centres in 42 districts whereas five centres are under-construction and would be
completed soon. "The process of constructing more centres has been
initiated in compliance with the orders of President Asif Ali Zardari for
setting up special education centres in each district," added the
sources. They said a portion of Special Education Centre Jhang has been
completed and started functioning whereas the building would be completed in
February 2010. Special Education Centre in Mirpurkhas, Kohat, Hunza and Sibbi
would be completed in the near future, they informed. There is only one
centre in Karachi working under the federal ministry, which cannot cater to the
needs of its population, they said adding that PC -1 for establishing another
centre was approved in 1989 but is yet to be constructed. The news
Post your comments
NWFP schools reopened
Peshawar: Educational institutions in the NWFP reopened amid
tight security, as per provincial government orders. Education Department
officials said that the NWFP government had directed all public and
private schools and colleges to fix students' entry and exit timings and keep
the entrance and exit gates locked at all other times. They said the
government had also directed principals to remain vigilant and not to allow
vehicles near school and college buildings. NWFP Private Educational
Institutions Association President Khawaja Yawar Naseer said that the provincial
government had directed private schools and colleges through a circular to
increase the number of security guards. He said a security plan had been
devised for private educational institutions, under which students would have to
display their identification cards to enter and all gates would remain locked
during study hours. He said the association had also directed private schools
and colleges to buy metal detectors and frisk students before allowing them in. Daily times
Post your comments
4 institutions closed in Daska
Daska: District monitoring Officer Ijaz Bhutta had closed four institution of
Daska city. Monitoring officer had given dead line 48 hours to 13 private and 7
government institutions to improved their security arrangements butt four
institution Image College, Educator Girls College, Sialkot Grammar School, St
Marks High School can not act up on the direction of administration. F.P Report
Post your comments
Girls school blown in Bara
Bara: Suspected Taliban have blown up a girls' school in Bara,
injuring four people, local residents informed on Sunday. Two explosions
ripped through the 18-room government high school for girls in Karigar Ghari
area of Bara. Local said the blast was so powerful that it destroyed the
building and damaged nearby houses, injuring four people. "The terrorists have
blown up the school, demolishing all the rooms," said administration official
Shafeerullah. Locals said a boy, who watched the premises, was also missing,
possibly kidnapped by the terrorists. Daily times
Post your comments
| 
