The public schools of the federal capital have been awaiting funds to make security arrangements including construction and repair of boundary walls and purchase of walkthrough gates and close circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

The state minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Usman Ibrahim had announced on January 15 that Rs200 million had been released for security arrangements at educational institutions.

Sources in the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) contradicted the minister’s statement and said that no money has been received.

“I do not know about this Rs200 million. All I know is that our schools are vulnerable because of collapsed boundary walls,” said the principle of a school, choosing to not be named.

Sources in the CADD said that the department is yet to take a final decision over the release of these funds. “We have around 300million in the ministry’s account and so we are mulling over whether this amount should be utilised for school security or whether the finance ministry should be contacted,” said a senior officer in CADD.

He said the issue is likely to be resolved within two days. “The minister has formed a committee comprising of officials from Public Works Department, FDE and CADD. This committee will finalise the plan for making security arrangements at schools,” he said.

Following the attack on Army Public School in Peshawar which left 141 students and teachers dead, Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) and police issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all schools. Under the SOP, schools are required to have eight feet high boundary walls with two feet of barbed wire on top, CCTV cameras and walkthrough gates.

However, these steps are yet to be taken by public schools which do not have the funds make these arrangements. “Forget CCTV cameras and walkthrough gates, there are over 50 schools which do not even have boundary walls,” said an FDE officer.

He said on Monday, FDE officials will give a detailed presentation to senior officers at CADD about security issues at these schools. “We have made security arrangements in model colleges, however, the schools are short on funds,” he said.

— Text by Kashif Abbasi & photo by White Star

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2015

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