PESHAWAR: Despite spending billions of rupees on boosting the security of educational institutions in the province, the Wednesday’s attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda has raised questions about such measures as the students mostly in the government schools, colleges and universities are still exposed to terror attacks.

Officials of the Elementary and Secondary Education Department, who have been giving the impression to masses to have adopted security measures with a cost of Rs10 billion being released to the schools, are actually not satisfied with the existing security arrangements.

Soon after the militant attack on the Army Public School, Peshawar, in Dec 2014 standard operating procedures were framed by the government under which height of the boundary walls of schools was increased, barbed wire fixed on them and headmasters were asked to buy guns for the watchmen.

However, officials told Dawn that it was not the mandate of the education department to provide security to the schools. “Terrorists cannot be stopped from attacking educational institutions by raising the boundary wall and handing over a locally-made gun to an untrained watchman,” one of the district education officers told Dawn.

Educationists not satisfied with existing security arrangements

After the APS attack in which 144 students and staff members were killed, the parents all over the province are worried about the safety of their children attending schools, colleges and universities. Prior to the attack on Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, panic had already gripped the parents, students and teachers in the provincial capital. Previous Saturday was a restless day for the parents when the district administration closed schools in Peshawar Cantonment, Nauthia and Gulberg for a day to avert a possible attack.

A large number of parents across Peshawar district rushed to the schools to collect their children when the news of school closure was aired on TV. After passing through the panic on Saturday, around 30 to 40 per cent of the students remained absent on Monday because of fear among them and their parents. Again, on Tuesday, a girls’ higher secondary school was evacuated in cantonment area over a terror scare.

The previous five days were very tense for the parents, students and teachers due to rumours of attack on educational institutions. However, with the attack on the Bacha Khan University those rumours turned true that would further trigger tension among the parents, students and teachers.

“It is a misconception to avert terrorist attack with the help of a watchman deployed on the gate of each government school,” a district education officer told Dawn. The watchman is not supposed to fight with the much-trained and well-equipped terrorists, he said, adding that the watchman was only responsible to keep watch on the furniture, electric appliances and other items inside the school.

It is the responsibility of the security agencies and police to provide security to the educational institutions rather than shifting it to the watchmen of the schools, he said.

“Practically it is impossible to provide security to the educational institutions in the current scenario,” he said.

It is beyond the capacity of the police department to deploy police around 28,000 government schools, 200 colleges and 19 public sector universities, a senior police officer told Dawn.

“If we deploy even two police constables at each school we would need 60,000 additional police personnel for that,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Charsadda incident has refreshed the horrible memories of APS in the minds of parents whose children were away from home when the incident occurred.

For Mohammad Osama, the day was similar to the APS tragedy. “It was like someone has struck ‘refresh button’ on my brain. That day, we underwent a great ordeal. Though, my two sons were at the University Public School, away from the site of the battle that day, but my wife insisted we should go,” Mr Osama told Dawn.

The same episode occurred again today. “We received a call from our Saudi-based relatives and subsequently saw TV and stepped out of home straightaway to get to my sons’ school the soonest,” he says. Already, bomb hoaxes at schools have become order of the day. Dozens of other parents had rushed to the UPS, too.

Aziz Khan, another parent agrees with Osama. “The day was similar to APS. It caused pain to us. We cannot forget our children when such happenings take place,” he said. Schools are soft targets, he said.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2016