RAWALPINDI: Police officers will visit schools to deliver awareness lectures on protection of children and also accord due protocol to teachers when they visit police stations.

This was stated by City Police Officer Mohammad Faisal Rana during his meeting with a delegation of Punjab Teachers Union on Tuesday.

The CPO assured the teachers’ delegation that on the basis of their suggestions, he would assign educated police officers to visit schools to deliver lectures on protection of children.

The delegation of the Punjab Teachers Union was led by its vice president, Syed Hamid Ali Shah, and comprised Rawalpindi district chairman Shahid Mubarik Raja, Rawalpindi district president Imran Qazi, Raja Tahir, Raja Aurangzeb, Zahid Sabir Satti and Chaudhry Dilawar. The teachers also appreciated the move to give due protocol to teachers in police stations.

Expressing concern over the recent increase in crime, the teachers said society gets plagued with all sorts of crimes, and these days, the crimes like sexual abuse of children, kidnapping and blackmailing have surged.

They said because of the effective measures taken by Rawalpindi police, all incidents of sexual abuse of children, kidnapping and blackmailing had been investigated and culprits arrested.Thanking the teachers, CPO Faisal Rana said: “Societies who do not respect their teachers can never progress.

"We have to take meaningful steps for the protection of children and for this purpose an awareness campaign should be launched in schools,” he said, adding that besides giving due protocol to teachers in police offices and stations, their issues must be resolved on priority basis.

The SDPOs will also be responsible to implement his directives, while the divisional SPs will monitor and ensure that his directives were enforced.

The CPO said October 5 will be celebrated as World Teachers Day and on this occasion, Rawalpindi police will send out a message that every personnel of Rawalpindi police, from CPO to constable, was a student of a teacher and that they will give full protocol to them.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2019