Rawalpindi: The Civil Defence Department on Tuesday issued notices to over 600 private schools to register with the District Education Authority (DEA) and install firefighting equipment on their premises – a news source reported.
The department had conducted a survey and identified nearly
602 private schools in Rawalpindi District that were not registered with DEA. In
total, the department had 1,255 registered private schools listed in its record
and had launched the drive to check their fire safety equipment status.
Speaking on the matter, District Civil Defence Officer Talib Hussain revealed that although an NOC is required from the Civil Defence Department to open a school, 602 such facilities were working without any departmental certification.
He further noted that there were up to 1,800 government
schools operating in the district; with most of them being equipped with fire
safety equipment – adding that the remainder which lacked these facilities
would be issued notices soon.
He stressed on the need for ensuring child and staff safety,
since a number of fire incidents had occurred in the city’s schools recently.
