Delhi Education Director cautions govt schools against terror attacks

New Delhi, Aug 8 : In the aftermath of a hoax call early in the morning to blow up a public school in West Delhi, the Capital's Education Director Chandra Bhushan Kumar hurriedly posted a circular on his department's website, cautioning all heads of schools coming under his jurisdiction not to allow any unknown person enter the school premises.

Apprehending terror attacks on Delhi Government schools, he directed principals of all government schools to have a thorough check of school premises every morning, including all rooms, toilets, water tanks, and playgrounds, under the direct supervision of the respective head of the school.

However, repeated phone calls made to the offices of Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and Director of Education Chandra Bhushan Kumar, to know the gravity of terror threats to Government schools in the Capital, failed to evoke any response.

The Director's circular posted on the website www.edudel.nic.in also directed all school teachers to be "vigilant".

The circular said: "Any suspicious material/ article/ movement of unidentified person must be reported to the nearby police station/ fire station/ district administration immediately. It should be ensured that no panic is caused in the school, and the head of school must ask everybody to be calm and composed, but everybody should remain alert. The details of area police station, fire station, hospital, district administration should be maintained and updated from time to time."

Earlier, an anonymous phone call threatening to blow up the Guru Nanak Public School in West Delhi triggered panic forcing the evacuation of students and staff from its premises. But, later the phone call turned to be a hoax, said DCP (West) Sharad Aggarwal.

Bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs were rushed to the school which carried out searches in the premises but did not find any explosive material, he said, and added: "We have declared the call a hoax and are trying to trace the caller."

This is the 60th bomb hoax call received by people and police in the national Capital this year. Rumours about a possible terror strike on Delhi schools had yesterday created flutter in the city yesterday forcing some of them to shut down.

Earlier, on Wednesday, a private school in Vasant Vihar of South Delhi had also got a similar threat call. The caller had claimed that other schools here would be targeted soon. By Pankaj Yadav

ANI