FORTIFIED: Metal detectors, extra personnel, CCTV cameras, restricted access on agenda

After the recent terror attacks in Mumbai and Delhi, city schools are not willing to take any chances and officials will closely monitor visitors and bar easy access onto school premises.

While metal detectors and CCTV cameras may be the order of the day, with Delhi Public School, Dwarka deploying hand-held metal detectors at the school gates, DPS, RK Puram is looking into hiring a security consultant. Principal Shyama Chona said, “We will get something even more specialised.”

Security seems to be top priority for many schools, particularly after the police received hoax calls about terrorists holed up inside schools in the city on Wednesday. At Shri Ram School, a meeting on security was held on Thursday. Parents were asked to use school buses instead of private transport and be there to pick up their children from schools or bus stops, Principal Komal Sood said. Extra security personnel have also been deployed at the school.

The school, however, doesn’t plan on introducing metal detectors or CCTV cameras, officials said. “Metal detectors do not deter any attacks. We are making sure anybody entering the school has proper identification and we know our parents really well,” Sood said.

Security has been stepped up in many city schools, including Laxman Public School, and almost all schools are checking bags and visitors’ identification. But for some, metal detectors are a must. At Ryan International School, Vasant Kunj, metal detectors will be deployed beginning Friday. Fire-fighting equipment and hydrants have also been upgraded, Principal Anju Uppal said. “Even before the Mumbai attacks, we were planning on tightening security,” Uppal said. CCTV cameras too are in the pipeline, she said.

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