PM Shehbaz Sharif Bars Use of Islamabad Schools for Security Deployment, Ends Non-Teaching Duties for Teachers

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has barred the use of schools and colleges in Islamabad for housing police and security personnel during law and order situations, and has directed that teachers must no longer be assigned non-teaching duties, according to a formal communication issued by the Prime Minister's Office.

The directives followed a recent meeting on the capital's education sector, where the prime minister emphasised that educational institutions should be reserved strictly for teaching and learning. Written instructions were subsequently sent to the Ministry of Education, which relayed the decisions to the Islamabad administration and police on Wednesday.

Under the ministry's letter, buildings, classrooms and other facilities of institutions operating under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) cannot be used by law enforcement agencies for personnel deployment, temporary camps, detention facilities or other operational activities. The prime minister also ordered an end to teachers' involvement in administrative work, including election duties, census operations and household surveys, with instructions that any such assignments already made be cancelled immediately.

The letter was addressed to the Islamabad chief commissioner, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman, the inspector general of police, the interior secretary and the FDE director general, formally binding the capital's civil and security authorities to the new policy.

The decision comes after 38 public-sector schools and colleges in Islamabad were closed for one to three weeks in September to accommodate police personnel ahead of an anticipated protest. According to an FDE official, police personnel began moving into these institutions on September 24, three days before the scheduled rally, disrupting the education of thousands of students.

The move is expected to provide significant relief to students, parents and teaching staff in the federal capital, who have repeatedly seen academic schedules disturbed by security deployments and administrative assignments. By restricting schools to their core educational purpose, the directive aims to protect instructional time and keep teachers focused on classroom responsibilities.