CISF offers consultancy to make schools safe

NEW DELHI: The CISF has written to schools across the country, including noted ones like KVS, DPS, Doon and Scindia, offering professional security consultancy services to ensure safe environment for children, a move that comes in the wake of the killing of a student in Gurugram.

The paramilitary, mandated as the nodal security agency to guard critical installations in the country including airports, has written dozens of letters to school authorities stating it can help create a "safe and secure" environment for school-going children which will come with a service fee.

The consultancy fee would be around Rs 4 lakh for an average school.

The trigger for this allIndia exercise by the Central Industrial Security Force is the recent incident of killing of a Class 2 student of the Ryan International School in Gurugram who was found dead in the school bathroom with his throat slit by a sharp-edged weapon on the morning of September 8.

"It is felt that in the wake of the recent unfortunate incident in one of the reputed schools in the national capital region (NCR) in which a young student lost his life, there is now a need for revisiting the security infrastructure of our schools.

"You will agree that a healthy and secure environment is a right of every child and schools have a major role to play in the providing the same," the CISF letter addressed to one of the school principals read.

Among those who have been sent the offer letter include the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, the Delhi Public School Society, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Springdales, Salwan Education Trust, Modern School, Sanskriti, Mother's International, Shri Ram and Appejay Education Society in Delhi.

The force has even approached the Ryan Group of Schools in Mumbai, the Doon School in Dehradun, Scindia School in Gwalior and Rishi Valley in Chitoor in Andhra Pradesh even as many more such letters are being dispatched.

CISF Director General O P Singh said the force took the initiative as part of its responsibility towards society.

"We are the best suited government agency for doing such expert security consultancies and in preparing safe environments. We need to ensure safety to the school-going children. About 200 institutions of national repute are our satisfied clients under this umbrella," he said.

The force that works under the command of the Union home ministry has conducted similar security consultancy for the Dhirubhai Ambani International school in Mumbai and has similarly audited a number of Indian Institutes of Management (IISM) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IIST). The force has assured the schools that its professional but chargeable security solutions will be custom-made for them like it does for each of its clients.