INTRODUCTION:

“HAZARDS ARE NATURAL, DISASTERS ARE NOT” Hazards such as floods and earthquakes become disasters when society lacks the ability to cope with them. Children have the right to be both safe and secure in school, and to be assured of educational continuity, even in the face of disasters and emergencies. We send our children to the school to get educated, however, a few decades ago, we did not have to dwell too much on the safety of our children in the schools; we took it for granted, for the school was always synonymous with the word ‘safe’. Unfortunately, it is no longer the case. In 1995, in MandiDabwali, many school children perished in a fire at a prize distribution ceremony. In 2001, 971 school children died in the Bhuj earthquake.In 2013, 24 children died of food poisoning after the mid-day meal in a Bihar school.

The list seems to be endless; from natural calamities to the man-made ones, the children are no longer safe in school. Some of these disasters could have been averted by simple prevention and preparedness by the school.

Creating a safe environment for the children in school is the most important task, as in the case of any emergency, they are the most vulnerable. National Disaster Management Authority(NDMA), of the Ministry of Home Affairs, strongly feels that there has to be a structural, as well as non-structural intervention, to ensure the safety of the children.Structural intervention would include strict check on the guidelines set up for school buildings, while non-structural would mean educating the staff, teachers, and students about disaster management.

The Ministry insists that every school adopt a school safety program targeting the educational institutions, emergency officials, teachers, students and even the community at large. Under this program, the students learn and get training about the safety measures, thus becoming the future disaster managers.

CULTURE OF SAFETY IN SCHOOLS:

Education sector in any country plays a vital role since it contributes greatly in shaping the future of the country by educating the children.Everyday each child spends 35-40 per cent of their time in school. Therefore, the school should have a disaster management plan for complete safety of the children in the school.The teachers and other stakeholders should be trained to protect the children in case of any disaster.Lack of proper precautions and investments for disasters management would result in loss of life. Therefore, the governmentand management of the schools in India should take measures for safety of children in schools.It is important to investigate whether children are safe in the school and does the school have a culture of safety in practice to protect thousands of lives of childrenagainst thenatural disasters.

SCHOOL DISASTER MANAGEMENT:

School disaster management is the process of assessment and planning, physical protection and response capacity development designed to:

· Protect students and the staff from physical harm

· Minimize disruption and ensure the continuity of education for all children

· Develop and maintain a culture of safety.

· School administrators, staff, teachers and students should be prepared in case of emergencies and disasters due to natural hazards (e.g. earthquakes, floods, typhoons, landslides, etc.) or man-made causes (e.g. fire, chemical spills, bombs, etc.) to protect themselves from personal injury and loss of life and protect the school property from damage.

School preparedness requires undertaking the following important actions:

1. Create a school emergency and disaster preparedness committee,

2. Design a school emergency and disaster preparedness plan,

3. Know the responsibilities of stakeholders, and

4. Conduct emergency drills and exercises.

1. School Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Committee:

School principals, college deans and university presidents should provide leadership for the establishment of a School Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Committee.The type and size of the committee depend on campus size and population, and school level (i.e. grade school, high school or university).The committee should preferably be made up of teachers, administrative personnel, parents and students.

Functions and Responsibilities of a School Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Committee:

· Develop, review and implement a School Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Plan.

· Organize emergency brigades (e.g. Fire, first aid, evacuation, etc.) and assign responsibilities to teachers and administrative staff based on individual capacities for each anticipated emergency situation. Do not assign dangerous activities to students.

· Plan, organize and conduct emergency preparedness training and drills for all students and staff, including persons with disabilities.

· Put an emergency warning system in place that shall inform the school population of the actual or impending danger.

· Coordinate and communicate with local authorities (e.g. police, fire departments, hospitals) and the parents or guardians of students in crisis situations.

· Integrate emergency preparedness into the curriculum.

· Provide for procurement, storage, and maintenance of emergency supplies, equipment, and program instructional materials.

· Provide procedures for regular maintenance

2. School Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Plan:

A School Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Plan consists of policies and procedures developed to promote the safety and welfare of students, protect school property, or regulate the operation of schools in the event of an emergency or disaster. The Plan assures the protection and safe care of students and staff before, during, and immediately after a threatened or actual emergency or disaster.

Components of a School Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Plan

· Complete contact information of all members of the school emergency and disaster preparedness committee.

· Telephone numbers of emergency and support agencies

· Maps and floor plans

· A school evacuation plan and map for specific disasters, showing the location and route inside and outside the school.

· Emergency Preparedness Plan orientation and drills for all students, teachers and staff.

· Procedures for informing parents and guardians during school emergency situations

· Provision of emergency transportation for students and staff.

3. Emergency Responsibilities of Stakeholders:

Teachers and Administrative Staff should participate in developing the emergency plan. They should also receive skill training on how to deal with children and co-workers in an emergency situation. They should be trained in first aid procedures. They should also be able to provide continuous leadership training and activities to enhance the confidence and the abilities of students to care for themselves and be of help to others during an emergency, including a period of enforced confinement. They should also keep in mind to help and assist the students and staff who have disabilities.

School Maintenance and Technical Staff should report structural defects and safety hazards to the school emergency committee. They should post charts that show location of protective equipment for use by personnel in an emergency. They should also instruct all the school staff in the use of fire extinguishers and other emergency equipment.

Parents and Guardians should participate in the development and implementation of the Plan. They should support emergency preparedness programs within the school. They should also volunteer in school emergency preparedness planning and during actual emergencies. They should encourage students to discuss with their parents the emergency preparedness and response techniques learned at school.

Students should cooperate during emergency drills and exercises. They should learn to be responsible for themselves and others. They should also prepare a first aid kit and learn first-aid procedures. They should take care of younger children and assist classmates with certain disabilities.

4. Emergency Drills and Exercises:

Emergency drills and exercises should be conducted regularly in schools to develop the capacity of students to respond to a disaster, as well as to raise the awareness of students and staff on disaster mitigation. Drills offer the opportunity to identify training needs, establish new reflexes, and teach through action and repetition.

There are various drills that can be conducted in schools depending on the hazard. After conducting a drill, an evaluation should be made to determine any lapses in the drill. Here are some of the drills that are appropriate to both sudden disasters (e.g. earthquakes, tsunami) and early warning situations:

· Reading of maps for emergency exits and evacuation routes

· Putting on life jackets and practicing water safety (for flood, tsunami)

· Moving to higher ground (for tsunami)

· Take shelter (for windstorm, tornado)

· Use of the fire extinguisher and extinguishing small fires

· Emergency communications

· Assisting the disabled during emergencies

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

So, now belowis a review of some of the relevant researches related to the study: Ozmen.F (2008) in her paper on “The level of preparedness of the schools for disasters from the aspect of the school principals” has revealed that the preparedness level of the schools is not so well for prospective disasters, and there are significant differences among the views of the subjects. In other words, the school principals were not so effective in achieving high level preparedness and for prospective earthquakes.

Hosseini.M (2008) in his paper “Earthquake disaster risk management planning in schools” recommends that there is a need to emphasize on a national-level contingency planning that includes developing and designing detailed plans for a proper response and training of relevant personnel. Another important issue, which needs special attention, is the material which should be taught to the commanders of emergency activities at various levels in order to help them to control an effective emergency situation.

Mamogale M.H. (2011) conducted a study on “Assessing disaster preparedness of learners and educators’ in Soshanguve North schools to determine the disaster preparedness in Soshanguve North by sourcing data from principals, educators, learners and school safety committees. The study found that educators were not trained in disaster management. However it was found that learners were the ones who were more aware of disaster preparedness the reason found was their subject such as Social Sciences directly covers the teaching of disaster education while Life Orientation and Natural Sciences indirectly cover disaster risk management concepts and principles.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA, 2013) stated that schools may be seen as the ideal setting for the dissemination of risk-based educational programs. Most children can be seen as malleable and easily shaped and molded, and if given the proper preparedness skills, children can develop those skills and carry them into their adulthood. FEMA further asserts that helping children gain a realistic view of disasters is vital in ensuring their comprehension and realistic view of disasters is vital in ensuring their comprehension and understanding when faced with a major disaster.

Janardhan A. (2015) in his article in The Indian Express stated that A Kumbakonam school fire accident happened in a school of Tamil Nadu. A total of 94 students of the primary section of the Krishna English Medium School were burnt to death in their classroom as the thatched roof caught fire on 16 July 2004. The accident was the one of the four major fire accidents and the largest school accident in Tamil Nadu, and second in terms of casualties for fire incidents in schools in India.

After having gone through all the above mentioned studies, it was observed that the area of disaster management needs some more research. So, the purpose of the study is to examine the schools of Delhi NCR region and how much the teachers are prepared for the disasters.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:

Specifically, this study aimed to determine the following objectives:

· To study the status of the existence of the disaster management committee in the school.

· To assess the knowledge of the secondary school teachers of Delhi NCR regarding the disaster management and preparedness.

· To what extent the teachers are trained for disaster management in the school.

· To identify the barriers in implementing disaster management plan in the school

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

The study answered the following research questions:

· What is the status of disaster management committee in the Delhi NCR schools?

· Does the school have a policy document stipulated for disaster management?

· Are the teachers aware about the disaster management plan?

· To what extent is disaster preparedness achieved by the educators in Delhi NCR schools?

· What are the barriers in implementing the disaster management plan in Delhi NCR schools?

METHODOLOGY:

This study used the descriptive quantitative research design. The school teachers of private schools in Delhi NCR were the respondents of the study. Data was collected from 35 respondents via Google forms through a self-constructed questionnaire.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:

Objective 1: To study the status of the existence of the disaster management committee in the school.

Answer of first and second research question i.e. “What is the status of disaster management committee in the Delhi NCR schools?” and ‘Does the school have a policy document stipulated for disaster management?”is discussed here. To find the answer to this sub question, the respondents were administered the question number 1, 2, 4, 7.Their responses were analyzed and the same has been tabulated in Figure 1:

Interpretation:

It has been observed from Figure 3 that 62% teachers are not trained for any potential disaster that may affect the school. Next, 60.10% teachers are not trained for conducting an evacuation drill. Shockingly, 56.20% teachers are not trained to assist any child with disabilities. Lastly, 73.30% teachers are not trained for giving basic cardiac life support during a disaster.

Objective 4: To identify the barriers in implementing disaster management plan in the school

Answer for the fifth research question i.e. “What are the barriers in implementing the disaster management plan in Delhi NCR schools?” was discussed by the private school teachers of Delhi NCR region with the help of a questionnaire.

Interpretation:

It has been observed from Figure 4 that the majority of the private school teachers of Delhi NCR region with 58% thought that they should be given more training so they can cope with any potential disaster that may affect the school. Some of the other barriers in implementing the disaster management plan in the schools according to the teachers were lack of equipments, lack of infrastructure, large number of students etc.

CONCLUSION:

The study has found that the majority of schools are not prepared for disaster management. While some schools did not have a disaster management committee, others did not update their emergency plans on a regular basis.

The study highlighted that the teachers were relatively aware about their duties and responsibilities. They were aware that they are expected to stay on jobs as disaster service workers during a disaster. They were also aware about the evacuation routes and safe spaces.

But as far as the training of the teachers is concerned, it was found that they are not trained for any potential disaster that may affect the school. It came as a shock that the teachers were not et all trained for providing basic cardiac life support during a disaster.

Lastly the study talked about the barriers that the teachers are facing in implementing the disaster management plan in the schools. So it was found that the majority of the teachers responded that they were not given enough training and they need some basic training for disaster management in the schools. The rest of the teachers also had some or the other type barriers that they were facing like lack of equipments and infrastructure, the large number of the children in the schools etc.

REFERENCES:

1. Cenbosec (2009). Quarterly Bulletin of the CBSE, Vol. 48, No. 2. April-June

2. Das.P, Malaviya.R (2013). Role and Capacity Building of School Teachers in Disaster Preparedness and Prevention. International Journal of Education, Issue July 2013, Vol. 2

3. Ozmen, F. 2006. The level of preparedness of the schools for disasters from the aspect of the school principals, Disaster Prevention and Management Vol. 15 No. 3. (pp. 383-395)

4. ISDR. 2007. Towards a Culture of Prevention: Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School- Good Practices and Lesson Learned. Geneva.

5. India. Ministry of Home Affairs. National Disaster Management Authority (2009). National Policy on Disaster Management: 2009. Retrieved from http://nidm.gov. In/ PDF/policies/ndm_policy2009. pdf

6. Mamogale H.M. (2011). Assessing disaster preparedness of learners and educators in Soshanguve North schools,

7. Hosseini. M. and Izadkhah. O. Y. (2006) Earthquake disaster risk management planning in schools. Disaster Prevention and Management Vol. 15 No. 4, 2006 (pp. 649-661)

8. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002279/227954e. pdf

9. http://www. wcdrr. org/wcdrr. data/uploads/881/Making%20school%20safer%20from%20natural%20disasters%20Guide%20-%20Indonesia. pdf

Received on 22.11.2017 Modified on 08.01.2018

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2018; 9(1): 291-296.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2018.00054.2