Four city schools seek CISF advice to secure campus

Kolkata: Four of the 14 schools nationwide, which have approached the Central Ind-ustrial Security Force to make the campus safer for children, are from Kolkata.
The schools have approached the CISF to get a security audit done after the paramilitary agency, which reports to the ministry of home affairs, sent out letters last month, stating it could help create a “safe and secure” environment for children for a fee.
“Four schools from Kolkata — La Martiniere for Girls and La Martiniere for Boys, St Xavier’s Institution (Panihati) and GEMS Akademia International School — have approached us for security consultancy,” CISF director general O P Singh said. “Preliminary discussions with these schools are going on,” he added.
“We have written to the CISF that we would like to go for an upgrade according to their recommendations. The director general has responded, saying the agency is ready to provide security advice. We will pay for the expenses,” La Martiniere Boys’ School and La Martiniere Girls’ School board of governors secretary Supriyo Dhar said. “The CISF guards vital installations in the country and its inputs will be invaluable,” he explained. The school already has more than 750 CCTV cameras installed across two campuses, apart from having 62 guards on duty during school hours.
St Xavier’s Institution principal Lipika Ghosh said: “The CISF is a specialised agency and we want to take the help of a specialist in security-related matters. We have a system in place but there is always scope for improvement.” GEMS Akademia principal Aditi Mukherjee was not available to speak on the issue.
Expert teams from the CISF’s consultancy wing will soon visit these schools and prepare a professional security blue-print for them. It tells clients where to instal the CCTV cameras, where to deploy security staff, how to check access control, how to train security staff and instal emergency-response gadgets. The force has assured the schools that its security solutions will be custom-made for them, just like it is for its other clients. The consultancy fee would be around Rs 4 lakh for a school, officials said.
In Bengal, the CISF has advised — and helped — in security-related matters at Victoria Memorial, Indian Museum, Science City and even IIT-Kharagpur.
“We are the ideally suited government agency for doing such security consultancies and in preparing safe environments. We need to ensure safety for schoolchildren. We took this initiative also as part of our social responsibility,” Singh told TOI from New Delhi. “The consultancy wing has helped earn a revenue of Rs 2.5 crore alone this calender year, which indicates the acceptability of our security solutions,” he added.