In a bid to ensure foolproof fire security arrangements to avert fire incidents, the Punjab Government has issued detailed instructions to all the educational institutes in the State for strict implementation of existing fire safety norms in the premises. Disclosing this here today Sikandar Singh Maluka, Education Minister Punjab said that all the educational institutes had been asked to comply with these instructions in letter and sprit.The Minister also directed the state fire services of Local Government department to carry out crash inspection of these educational institutes within three months to bring out improvements in accordance with existing instructions for ensuring the safety of school premises and sought a compliance report to monitor the situation.He categorically said that orders have been issued making it mandatory for all educational institutes including managements, to obtain a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the fire service department so that it could verify and check the fire-fighting arrangements and have gaps and deficiencies attended to.The Minister further added that the Education Department already observing adequate precautions in the use of cooking facilities for mid-day meals being provided in the upper primary and primary schools in the State. Fire extinguishers have been provided to such schools.The Education Minister said that children studying in educational institutes cannot take decisions for themselves in emergencies, and look up to the teachers and other elders for help and guidance. This places a far greater responsibility on those running these institutions. The Minister further said that unfortunately, commercialization and intense competition have led to schools being housed in ill-suited and congested localities in ill-designed buildings with inadequate floor-space, cramped seating arrangements, poor ventilation and lighting, and narrow passages. Such schools even have no necessary emergency escape routs. He added, according to fire safety norms, one-storied school buildings are required to install fire extinguishers in every two classrooms and ensure proper exits for children. High-rise buildings (up to five-storied) should have overhead tanks, pumps and big fire extinguishing equipment.The Education Minister emphasized that schools and colleges having science streams should be extra vigilant as science students perform experiments with various inflammable chemicals especially in chemistry laboratories that contained several inflammable chemicals. Without mincing any words, he said, “no leniency would be tolerated at any cost in ensuring fire fighting arrangements in the educational institutions”.