Home Ministry resends safety rules to all schools

NEW DELHI: In light of this week’s bloody terrorist attack on a school in Pakistan, the home ministry has re-issued to all states a set of safety guidelines for schools, framed by the Central Board of Secondary Education in 2010.

The six-page guidelines stress on the use of private security, CCTVs, alarm buttons and regular security drills for schools. Police in states have been asked to identify and make a list of prominent or high-profile schools for the purpose of standard operating procedure to deal with situations such as kidnapping, random firing, armed intrusion for hostage taking and explosives attacks. The guidelines say each school should have a concrete boundary wall, with three to four gates. Each gate should be manned by at least three guards.

Schools have also been asked to install CCTV systems all along the boundary as well as some locations inside the premises, with recording facilities for at least three days. In case armed terrorists enter a school and hold teachers or students hostage, the security guards should inform the police immediately, according to the guidelines, which also say children and teachers should stay indoors, shut doors and lie low in the classroom to escape random firing. Children may not be asked to gather in any open ground.