SWABI, March 15: The district administration has put in place a monitoring mechanism to ensure protection of educational institutions and effectively check militant attacks on schools and colleges here, sources told Dawn on Thursday.

They said that majority of primary and middle schools in the district did not have watchmen and the head teachers of such schools had been told that peons working in shifts must be on duty round the clock. They said that the peon concerned would be responsible if any unpleasant incident occurred in their institutions.

The sources said that the high and higher secondary schools and colleges already have watchmen for night duty. They said that about 62 watchmen appointed by the district education department about three weeks ago were also asked in their appointment letters that they would do the night duty to ensure protection of schools.

So far, several schools have been destroyed in Marghuz, Khalil Banda, Karnal Sher Kallay, Tand Kohi, Aman Kot, Shewa adda and Yar Hussain. Schools were also targeted in the district headquarters, including one in Panjpir Lara. A girls' college each in Topi and Razaar tehsils were targeted by suspected militants.

The official sources said that the administration had asked the staff of police stations and checkposts to keep a complete record of educational institutions and their watchmen on duty in their jurisdiction. "Now the police will have knowledge of who is on duty at a particular school," said the sources. The cell numbers of the watchmen have also been kept and they are told to immediately inform the nearest police station if they face any untoward incident or feel threatened.

"Policemen visited our school and asked the headmaster about who would be on duty at night time. They noted the name and assured him of cooperation," said a teacher on condition of anonymity. He said that the headmaster also asked the peons and watchmen that they would be answerable if any incident occurred during their duty.

The sources said that police had also been asked to patrol near educational institutions and regularly check whether the watchmen were on duty or not.

"We have developed an elaborate monitoring system for the safety of educational institutions," said a police officer.

The sources said that it had been noted that saboteurs usually planted bombs outside the buildings if the watchmen were present and inside if there was no one on duty, resulting in destruction of schools.

When contacted, district police officer Abdul Rashid said that it was a crisis situation and each and everyone citizen had to play their role for peace. He said that they had already tightened noose around suspected militants in Razaar.

Answering a question, the DPO said: "We are working on some leads and will soon bust a group involved in explosions and targeting educational institutions in the district." He also sought people's cooperation to control crimes and make the district peaceful.