Punjab government permission to reopen educational institutions
Reopening of Lahore educational institutions
Lahore, Oct 26: The Punjab government has decided that all educational
institutions in the province will reopen on Monday (today). According to
a handout issued on Sunday, a spokesman for the Punjab government said that the
permission to reopen educational institutions was conditional on adequate
security arrangements. He said educational institutions failing to comply with
conditions laid down by the Punjab government would be closed
again. Meanwhile, the Punjab government has constituted inspection teams
at provincial, district and tehsil levels to review security arrangements at
educational institutions. The GC University will be reopen on Monday
(today), said a press release issued on Sunday. The university has
issued a notification after the Punjab government's approval. The
University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, will restart academic
activities on Monday (today) after a four-day closure prompted by security
concerns According to a press release issued on Sunday, the decision was
made after the meeting of UVAS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Nawaz with
Governor/Chancellor Salman Taseer. The registrar of the University, Dr
Kamran Ashraf, had said that all other three campuses including Ravi Campus
Pattoki, ART Centre Ferozepur and CVAS, Jhang will also start academic
activities on Monday. The news
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Campuses with poor security will be closed again
Lahore: The Punjab government is allowing reopening of all educational
institutions from Monday (today) after claiming that the prescribed security
arrangements have been thoroughly checked on almost every campus and those not
taking the measures will be closed again. A few 'A-category' educational
institutions were on Sunday evening given 48 hours to fill up loopholes in their
security arrangements while permitting their reopening under a watchful eye of
police and other law enforcement agencies, officials informed. An
official statement said the educational institutions not adopting the security
measures despite repeated warnings would again be closed down. Chief
Secretary Javaid Mehmood said the government would continue to monitor security
of educational institutions and would close down those not meeting the required
standards after the grace period of a few days. The monitoring would remain
intact to keep the educational institutions under pressure with regard to
permanently maintaining the required security arrangements, he said. He
said nearly 80 per cent educational institutions in Lahore had followed
government's security instructions, and the rest were being made to follow the
suit. A number of parents who contacted by telephone, nevertheless,
said they would send their children to schools only after personally checking
whether they had adopted the required security measures or not. "I will
personally check whether the school is secured for my children or not," a caller
said. The security arrangements for educational institutions included
fortifying the boundary walls and installing razor wires on them, ensuring
single entry and exit points under strict control, using metal detectors and
installing walk-through security gates and CCTV cameras and sensitising drivers
and conductors of their buses on being alert during travel. Lahore
Commissioner Khusro Pervaiz Khan said the government finally reviewed the
security arrangements made by the managements of educational institutions and
law enforcement agencies on Sunday to ensure their safety after they reopen on
Monday. There were reports that educational institutions in Chakwal
would remain closed for another week, but the provincial education secretary
(schools) said there was no such direction from Punjab government.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government constituted inspection teams at
provincial, district and tehsil levels for permanently reviewing security
arrangements at educational institutions. It has already warned heads of
educational institutions and SPs concerned that they would be held responsible
in case of any mishap. In Lahore, managements of at least three private
schools contacted the parents of their students, asking them to submit copies of
their national identity cards and two latest pictures of the children by
Tuesday. They were also asked to produce their original identity cards for the
verification of the photocopies which would be forwarded to police for record.
It was stated that the pictures were being sought for issuing fresh
identity cards to the schoolchildren. Dawn
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Parents, civil society differ on decision to reopen schools
Lahore: Parents of students and members of civil society have expressed
differing opinions on the Punjab Government's decision to reopen educational
institutions, with parents claiming the security crisis has not been averted and
civil society demanding schools stay open in a symbol of defiance against the
terror attacks. Criticising the move to reopen government and private
schools and colleges on Monday, parents of students claimed that no security
measures were sufficient to completely prevent the threat of terror attacks
against education institutions. They said that if the terrorists could stage
attacks on military installations, they could easily bypass the security at
educational institutions. Some parents claimed
they were confident that the school administration would have sufficient
security to protect their children. However, most parents expressed fear and
confusion, with many considering keeping their children home from school until
the military operation in South Waziristan had been completed. Commenting on the
issue, Shama Hussain – the mother of a young student – said it would be better
to keep the educational institutions closed for a few more days, rather than
reopening them without properly rooting out the terrorists. She said she would
not send her son to school because she did not believe in the security measures
taken by the government. She said the government should not reopen the
educational institutions until the military operation had
concluded. Zahid Hussain, an A-Levels student, said the new
security measures would make the campus far more secure. However, he added, some
of his teachers believed it was an uphill task and terrorists with the
capability of attacking military installations could easily attack the school.
He claimed teachers at most key educational institutions believed the current
measures were not sufficient to assure protection from terror attacks. Muslim
Iqbal, the student of an elite university of the city, said the youth of society
did not fear extremists or terrorists and were more concerned about their
education. He said that while his parents were still afraid of the law and order
situation in the country, he and his friends were confident that the security
measures would be sufficient. Ahsan Waqqar, a 14-year-old attending one of the
more secure private schools of the city, said he was afraid the terrorists would
attack his school and would prefer to stay at home for a few more
days. Meanwhile, prominent human rights activist
Hina Jillani appreciated the government's decision to reopen the schools,
colleges and universities in the country. She said that while the threats of
terror attacks had not been removed, it was not suitable for the educational
institutes of the country to remain closed for an extended period of time. She
said all the educational institutes should remain open to show a collective
resistance against extremism. Daily times
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Security drill for school guards
Dera Ghazi Khan: Around 1,500 guards of private and government schools
were imparted civil-defence training at the District Police Lines here on
Sunday. Apprehending terrorists' backlash in the wake of military
operation in South Waziristan, the Punjab government had directed all district
governments to ensure the security of educational institutions. The
government also directed the school managements to raise their boundary walls up
to 8 feet high and get their peons and guards trained in civil-defence.
During the one-day session, the police officials imparted basic
anti-terror training to the school staff. The Police Educator School,
Army Public School, City School, Bloomfield School and AIMS will open in
November while Divisional Public School will open on Oct 28. However, other
government schools will open on Monday (today). Dawn
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