LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has issued guidelines for the Punjab government regarding security of educational institutions in the province.

A division bench comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Ayesha A Malik heard a petition filed by Advocate Zain Sikandar agitating security concern in schools. The bench held in-camera proceedings.

In its written order released on Saturday, the bench directed the government to ensure through its monitoring system that all public and private institutions were complying with security directives. The bench said all educational institutions which wanted to take additional security measures could approach the district coordination officer (DCO) concerned for assistance.

It requires District Security Audit Committees to hold regular meetings with the school administrations so as to remain updated. The bench directed the government to launch a public awareness campaign through different modes on security issues pertaining to educational institutions.

The schools secretary had already undertaken that the cost of improvement in security measures as directed by the government to all public and private institutions could not be passed on to the students in their fees and would be borne by the institutions themselves.

The secretary said security at all educational institutions, public and private, had been in place according to government’s directives. He further said the monitoring teams were visiting all institutions.

The bench adjourned the hearing till Feb 6 and sought further report on the matter.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2015

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