Private schools in Rawalpindi to remain open

The Rawalpindi Association of Private Schools (RAPS) has decided to keep all affiliated academic institutions open until issuance of a fresh notification by the government regarding their closure.

The decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the RAPS here on Thursday.

RAPS spokesperson Tahmeena Malik told ‘The News’ that owners and principals of affiliated private schools attended the meeting and discussed security arrangements.

It was decided that all schools would charge around Rs50 to Rs100 from each student to install CCTV cameras in their educational institutions besides taking other security measures. She made it clear that this amount will be charged only once because schools cannot bear the expenses of security arrangements on their own.

Tahmeena said that all heads of schools would arrange meetings with parents and brief them on security arrangements in their institutions. “After that the government would not be able to blame school administrations in case of any untoward incident,” she added.

She said that most schools have adopted security measures and an inspection team from the government has visited many schools and they are satisfied with the security arrangements, but they haven’t issued any clearance certificate to these schools.