Pakistan - Has Punjab government really shut down schools because of ‘severe cold’?

Khurram Chaudhry

Late on Monday night, the Punjab government announced that all government and private schools will remain closed from the 26th to 31st of January. While the reason being given is the severe cold spell that has affected most of the Punjab, a staff report published in Pakistan Today just hours after the announcement mentions that there is “speculation that the government was using the cold as a pretext to shut down the schools in the wake of protests launched by Sunni Tehreek in Lahore against the death penalty awarded to Mumtaz Qadri.”

But these protests are limited to specific roads in Lahore, and as this announcement comes while educational institutions are also grappling with security issues in the wake of the attack on Bacha Khan University earlier this month, could security be the real reason why the government took such a decision at the 11th hour? Are there credible threats to schools in the province? One teacher at a private school in DHA, Lahore, has confidently asserted that the reason behind the closure is that educational institutions are receiving direct threats from terrorist outfits. She added that “there is confusion amongst the management about what steps should be taken to ensure the safety of schools and most teachers and staff members are not confident that the measures being taken are sufficient to protect children and staff from future attacks.”

When Bacha Khan University was attacked by heavily armed gunmen, the security forces were quick to respond. Years of fighting terrorism has perhaps increased the level or preparedness and effectiveness of the security apparatus in Pakistan. But universities and schools are soft targets. The management here are trained to teach and not defend and, undoubtedly, are neither equipped nor experienced to make decisions regarding security. Nonetheless, when a guard at the university was asked about how they handled the situation as first responders, the response was typical of any security guard or chowkidar. They did not have the ammunition to maintain a credible defense. And I don’t expect that schools or universities can ever become ordnance depots.

Keeping these facts in mind, the severe drop in temperature can be handled and parents can manage the task of sending their children warmly dressed to schools. Schools can be expected to take effective decisions regarding providing sufficient heating facilities in classrooms. This they should know how to manage. But if we ask whether school administrators and university professors know how to tackle hardened terrorist outfits, we are perhaps failing to realize that this is not a task for academic scholars and administrators. The government’s tactic of closing schools down or requesting them to man their gates with heavily armed guards is preposterous. What is needed is a credible security plan by the police and the military to keep our campuses safe.

http://nation.com.pk/blogs/26-Jan-2016/has-punjab-government-really-shut-down-schools-because-of-severe-cold