Dubai, March 25: Abdullah Al Ali is a seventh grader in a public school in Dubai.
He has seen a lot of TV news about the recent earthquake in Chile and many other natural disasters, fires, stampedes and accidents across the globe.
Ask him what he will do if any such untoward disaster strikes here, the young boy candidly says he simply does not know what to do then.
“All I can do is to pray that nothing like that ever happens here. I would only be crying for help,” says Al Ali who represents hundreds of thousands of school children in the UAE.
As a matter of fact, some schools do make sure that basic emergency response skills are imparted to their students. They conduct mock drills and offer special sessions on first aid. However, they are only a few and disaster/emergency response mechanisms are generally not taught as part of school curricula.
The absence of disaster preparedness plans in schools has prompted the head of Dubai Health Authority’s Disaster Management Committee to call for “disaster education, with emphasis on mitigation, at the school level.”
Dr Moin Fikree, who is also the clinical director of the Emergency and Trauma Centre at Rashid Hospital that attends to victims of major accidents and emergencies in the emirate, highlighted the need for introducing disaster preparedness as part of the school curricula at the Arab Health Children’s Congress being held in Dubai.
“Schools are not immune to disasters,” he said citing international examples of stampedes at large school gatherings, school transportation accidents, shooting cases in schools, fire accidents, chemical lab accidents, large-scale outbreak of diseases like H1N1, and even bomb threat calls or threats by letters or post cards all of which can contribute to major chaos and disasters at schools.
“Disasters are inevitable. But, we need to educate our kids about disaster management. And the best way to do is to include that as part of their curriculum,” said Dr Fikree.
International studies have cited non-inclusion in curriculum as the major reason for schools not offering disaster education. The other reasons, mainly, time constraints, lack of teachers and giving less priority to the topic, all revolve around the key factor that it is not part of their teaching subjects.
However, some countries, especially those hit by earthquakes and Tsunami have come up with disaster education programmes to prepare students for natural disasters.
Dr Fikree’s recommendation for a similar programme in the UAE is backed up by a 2009 survey conducted by a team of doctors including him.
More than 80 per cent of 564 respondents including parents, teachers, education providers, and medical professionals in Dubai, strongly believed that education and training about disaster management should begin at school level.
“Most of them agree that it should be included from grade six and above,” said Dr Fikree who believes that disaster education provides an opportunity in promoting disaster awareness among all segments of the society, mainly through the families of students.
“Ninety four percent of children said they share such information with their families. That means a large chunk kids take these messages to their homes and spread better awareness at community level,” he added.
–Agencies