Schools ill-equipped to meet disasters

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: They say that prevention is better than cure. Awareness is a key word when it comes to effective prevention of disasters. But, sadly, most of our city schools turn a blind eye towards the issue, says the Fire and Rescue Service Department.  The schools do not even care about the safety of their own students, let alone give their students awareness. The previous government had launched a programme called ‘School Safety Programme’ aimed at equipping students to face disasters by forming Disaster Management Clubs. The pilot phase of the programme included giving training to students of schools located in disaster-prone regions. The idea was to expand the programme to other schools too, which sadly did not happen, barring the exception of a handful of schools.  The Fire and Rescue Service unit in the city had conducted an inspection in the city schools and found out that over 30 schools were ill-equipped to face any disaster. Out of this, a major number of schools happened to be government schools, the buildings of which were in frail conditions.The department had also submitted a report to the Education Department in this regard. But nothing happened, except for a few private school managements that installed portable fire extinguishers in their schools.  “Most school authorities here have just ignored the aspect of imparting disaster management skills to students,” says a Fire officer in the city.