Friday, January 26, 2018

Page 3

Local NewsThe Grenadian Voice

Disaster Management Education in schools – A Must!!

Grenada can takea page fromthe Shichigo
Elementary School
located in Sendai,
Japan, which is taking a comprehensive
bottom-up approach todisaster management
education.
The impact ofClimate Change is calling for disaster-related
education to be taken
seriously so that thenumber of lives andproperties usually lost,can be reduced.

Last year, theShichigo Elementary
School, which is thethird-largest public elementary school inSendai with a population 1,089 students,
fully included aspects
of disaster awareness in
its curriculum; thereby
minimising the negative impact of disasters.
Sendai is a major
regional center northeast of Tokyo. It was in
the area hardest hit by
the Great East Japan
Earthquake andTsunami on March 11,2011 where more than
20,000 people died andmany still missing.
Shichigo Elementary
is one of two schoolsthat started the education programme as apilot project after theMarch 11, 2011 disasters. The Shichigo
Elementary was a shelter to more than 2500
residents of the cityduring and after theearthquake and tsunami.

from earthquakes andtsunami disasters.

Students keep abosai — (a hood madeof flame resistant material) – in their desk at
school along with aknapsack containing
essentials in case ofdisaster.
The students undergo a total of 30 hours
annually of disaster –related education.
“The programme canbe transferred anywhere in the world,”
Vice Principal Masaki
Nakatsuji said to agroup of Caribbean
and Pacific Island
reporters apart of the2017 Pacific-Caribbean
Journalists’ Programme,
noting that disaster
preparedness rules areapplicable to everycountry.
In a recent interviewwith the Chief
Education Officer(CEO) of Grenada’s
Ministry of Education,Elvis Morain admitted
to Grenada’s participant in the 2017 Japan
Journalists’ programmethat Disaster
Management is a priority area not just for
Education but generally. He told The
Grenadian Voicereporter that “It’ssomething we need tofocus on, it’s everybody’s business,” stating that when disasterstrikes everyone isaffected.

Chief Education Officer, Ministry of Education Elvis Morain

A Tohoku Institute of Tecnology undergraduate student helps Shichigo
Elementary School students make ema tablets out of recycled materials.
Ema tablets are hung in public areas and showcase students' prayers andhopes -- in this case, for the continuing recovery of the eastern Japanregion from the 2011 earthquake and disaster that devastated the area.
Photo by Floyd K. Takeuchi/Waka Photos.
Mr. Masaki Nakatsuji, vice principal of
Shichigo Elementary School, in Sendai, Japan. The public school has developed acomprehensive disaster preparedness
curriculum for its 1,089 students.
Photo by Floyd K. Takeuchi/Waka Photos
However, Mr Morain
said there isn’t a current discussion about
having disaster management being featured
as a stand-alone subject in the curriculum.
He explained that there
is a process to include
new subjects on thecurriculum; discussions, priorities, cooperation of teachers, etc.

“I see the need fordisaster management
education in ourAt the Japanese pubschools, the thing is
lic school, students
howbest to implement
across grades one to six
it because it needs toare introduced to difhappen as of now. I
ferent aspects of disasthink it’s something we
ter awareness andought
to start the conpreparation in different
versation on and see
subject areas that were
how we can get it inapplicable to their levthe school’s curriculum,els. The Grade ones
Morain admitted
asa stand-alone orlearn about the danthat
training children
heavily incorporated ingers that could comein schools is importantothersubjects,”
Morainwith an earthquake,
because the teachings
identifying objects that said. He suggested a
are manifested in thephase-inapproachtomay fall, move, or colwider community.
start or through establapse. The Grade fours“Students are a real veslishedclubs.
learn about problem
sel for transmitting
solving and how rice
The CEO noted that
information,” he said.
farmers, whose livelidisaster management isThe CEO noted thathood had been wiped
incorporated in subwhile
hazards cannotout by the disaster,
jects like Social Studies
were able to rebuild
and Geography but not be averted, the question is how they are
their lives through a
as a core subject.
managed?
He went on,
rice-planting project,“There might just be a
“Education is dynamic
which started in May
need for a greaterand we have to find2017. The fifth graders
inclusion of disaster
listen to experiences
management…this is a ways to address ourneeds through educafrom people who sufbig thing throughouttion. It is a pertinent
fered damage and loss
the world,” he said.
issue that we reallyneed to sit and look atand see how best we
can prepare our students and by extension
the nation to reallydeal with any situation….”
He said having content to teach is important rather than leaving
it up to chance that theteachers would
research it. He said
Grenada would welcome draft documentsfrom Japan, noting that
it would be “easier tohave something you
can work with than tostart from scratch.”
He expressed confidence that Japan would
be willing to offer technical and other support
to Grenada in thatregard.
The former Acting
Disaster Coordinatorof the National
Disaster Management
Agency (NaDMA),
Samantha Dickson, inShichigo Elementary School 5th graders made these ema prayer boards
with the assistance of undergraduate students from the Tohoku Instituteof Technology. Photo by Floyd K. Takeuchi/Waka Photos
a recent interview withthis newspaper also
cited the need fordisaster awareness education to be included
heavily in the schools’
curriculum. She asserted that “Disasterawareness has to be
cross cutting throughout all disciplines oncurriculum.” Sheexplained that “there'sa cost (insurance andloss - maths, economics), there's data that it
happens (geographyand social sciences), it
destroys livelihoods
and the society (agriculture, social studies),
it injures persons(Biology) and calls forconstant planning andbuilding back better(History, technicalareas). Whether we
subscribe to believing
in a higher being orbelieve that humaninduced activities are
the cause (Religion,Climate change),
events will happen - it's
only a matter of time.”