It was announced recently in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that teachers, both male and female, will be allowed to carry weapons to counter an attack. Following the announcement, female teachers of the Frontier College for Women asked the provincial police chief during his visit, to inspect security arrangements of the institution, to provide them training so they, too, can handle weapons for self-defence.

Nine female teachers of the institution attended the training session on weapon handling at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines on January 27. They were taught how to load a pistol or a semi-automatic rifle, how to aim a target, and how to open fire in case of emergency.

The pictures of the training went viral on social media, inviting criticism from the opposition parties and civil society for giving guns in the hands of teachers.

"The policy of the KP government to arm professionals -- doctors and teachers -- is another indication that they are clueless about handling critical security challenges. Teachers carrying arms in schools will have a bad effect on students and will turn educational institutions into jail-like buildings," says Bushra Gohar, senior leader of the Awami National Party and former lawmaker. Bushra believes there must be books not guns in schools.

Political leaders and workers have expressed their displeasure through social media. Asifa Bhutto Zardari, youngest daughter of former president, Asif Ali Zardari, was among the first few who opposed the idea. "Female teachers in Peshawar should be receiving training in knowledge, books, and different courses, NOT guns," tweeted the young Bhutto.

Thousands of others on Twitter and Facebook followed it up with the same comments. Only workers and supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf were defending the idea, arguing many developed countries of the world are already training their women in self-defence skills.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police said the training was imparted to female teachers after they requested for it. "This is not compulsory training but the management of the Frontier College for Women had asked for it during the visit of IGP to the institution. The session was arranged on the directives of the police chief for which nine teachers volunteered as they wanted to learn how to handle weapons in case of an emergency," says Dr Mian Saeed Ahmad, senior superintendent of police operations Peshawar.

According to Mian Saeed, the session was like women guard trainings which used to be given in every college in recent years. "This is only for self-defence and only for those who volunteer."

Despite criticism by the opposition parties, the PTI workers supported training of female teachers in weapon handling. Many argued that such situation would have not developed in the army public school if a couple of guards were there or a few teachers had pistols with them.

The arguments, however, did not work. The PTI leadership had to withdraw its decision of arming teachers on the very next day of training female teachers, since it conveyed a wrong message to the whole country, and the world.

It is an uphill task for both the provincial and federal governments to protect all schools in the country, especially KP due to its vulnerability. The government has ordered all regional police officers to ensure foolproof security for the public and private schools in their areas.

A one-click SOS service has been launched for prompt response to any school in case of a terrorist attack. Management of all schools in the province has been directed to beef up security of their institutions to thwart any terrorist attack.

"We have been directed to install walk-through gates, set up pickets, raise boundary walls and deploy fully alert guards with automatic rifles and explosive detectors. Many schools are unable to meet the requirements due to their limited income," says Zarullah Khan, general secretary of the All Private Schools Association. He believes arming teachers is no solution to stop terrorist attacks rather the government must improve its own security and intelligence system to ensure protection of thousands of schools and millions of children.

KP Information minister, Mushtaq Ghani, said there would be at least three guards in a school and two for a school bus. However, all these schools are open now despite not having adequate security for buildings, buses, and vans.

The province has recently passed the controversial KP Security of Sensitive and Vulnerable Establishments and Places Act 2015 under which not only private schools but all the private businesses will be responsible to arrange their own security and in case of violation the owners could be sentenced for one year.