After the ghastly incident of Army School, Peshawar in Pakistan by Taliban suicide bombers, State police have directed the district officials to be extra vigilant keeping a close eye on any suspicious movements in and around the educational institutions in Jharkhand. The Federation of Jharkhand Parent’s Association has also demanded adequate security arrangement in the schools making installation of CCTV camera mandatory for every school.
“As of now, no specific intelligence inputs have been received by us regarding the possibility of any such incident taking place, but since the Model Code of Conduct is already in place due to the ongoing electoral process taking place in the State, we have asked the district police to be extra vigilant in the backdrop of the terrorist attack which took place in Peshawar yesterday,” said Jharkhand Police Spokesperson and IG (Provisions) Anurag Gupta.
Gupta said that there was no need to panic as the security forces were competent enough to prevent any such move by the terrorists. Internal security in the schools in Ranchi however, has been beefed up after the incident on Tuesday. Army Public School in Ranchi, being located in the cantonment area was claimed to be foolproof with proper security arrangements.
“We do not need extra security for the children as we already have adequate forces for the security of children studying in our school,” said Principal Abhay Kumar Singh. Moreover, since the school itself is located in the cantonment area where no outsider can venture around, it is fool proof of any such Peshawar like incident here, added Singh.
Sainik School Tilaiya on the other hand, being located at a faraway place in Koderma, definitely need to be concerned about the security of the children who are residing there.
“We have our own security arrangements here in the school, which is at place round the clock,” said Registrar of Sainik School Tilaiya lieutenant Colonel AK Rajak. Security guards have been deployed at all strategic locations like class rooms, administrative buildings, student’s dormitory as well as play grounds who are keeping a close eye on any suspicious movement inside the campus, added Rajak.
Other school staffs however, revealed that the only drawback regarding the security arrangements is that there is no cemented boundary wall around the campus making it vulnerable to any untoward incident in future.
The staff however, said that the boundary wall around the campus is under construction after which the school will be fully protected from outside intrusion.
Moreover, merely 20-25 unarmed guards have been deployed for the safeguard of 875 schools residing inside the campus studying in classes VI to XII. Meanwhile, the FJPA condemning the gruesome killing of school children in Pakistan has demanded proper security cover for the children in schools.
“Jharkhand, having witnessed the presence of Indian Mujahedeen (IM) sleeping cells in the recent past, installation of CCTV cameras in schools along with proper security deployment in and around schools must be ensured by the state government to safeguard the lives of thousands of children studying in schools,” said FJPA President Ajay Rai.