Barely a month after the one year anniversary of APS attack, Pakistanis faced a nightmarish sense of déjà vu as militants stormed Bacha Khan University and took twenty precious lives. The militancy situation in our country, especially threat level to educational institutions, is getting worse despite uninterrupted efforts by Government who is striving best to fight against terrorism. Terrorists have now started targeting educational institutions which are a soft target. It is not only about terrorist attacks or man- made disasters which pose a threat to schools; schools are also most vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods or heat stroke which we have witnessed in the past decade.
So the question is how to protect our youth and upcoming generation from these hazards? Are Government efforts adequate enough, do we need to take some pro active measures or will we always wait for a crisis to develop and then perform in reactive manner? Keep School Safe, a premier foundation, has come up with a mission to prepare a more resilient school environment and thus more prepared students by instilling awareness in them and providing training on how to perform in times of emergencies. Keep School Safe’s awareness mission is aligned with disaster management at national, regional, district and local school site levels encompassing areas.
MUHAMMAD FARUKH NASEER,
Lahore, February 21.