Editorial
Disaster issues in school curriculum
Let content and language be in easy form
The idea of introducing disaster-related issues in school curricula surely promises to bring a new dimension to education in the country. For a developing nation such as ours, the ubiquity of problems it faces calls for new and sometimes radical approaches toward a resolution. That necessarily brings the question of the school syllabi into focus. We are of the opinion that the national convention on Monday on disaster risk reduction through schools is a step in the right direction and one that should lead to other and meaningful steps where imbuing the young with new ideas is concerned.
Introducing disaster-related issues in the curriculum is in the broad sense an initiative toward sensitising school students about their obligations to the community. In a country regularly battered by natural disasters, it is of critical importance that apart from their normal study of subjects students be brought face to face with the realities around them. Traditionally, our young and indeed the population as a whole have observed nature's fury at work. But where an understanding of such natural phenomena and preparing to tackle them is the matter, they have generally had precious few ideas. Which is why an inclusion of the subject in the curriculum gets to be important. If such a move is undertaken, it will quite rightly be seen as a step toward involving, in the ultimate sense, the larger community in responding to natural disasters. Besides, schools happen to be sheltering the homeless in times of disaster, although they are among the most affected during a calamity as well. Of course, there is and will always be the state or the government to make policy and undertake disaster mitigation programmes, but when a community is ready to handle conditions on its own in an informed way, there certainly is a difference. From such a perspective, therefore, incorporating natural disaster issues in school curriculum looks like a purposeful move.
But let there be a caveat here, one that was pointed out by a participant at the convention. She noted that the issues, if they are to be part of the school curriculum, will need to be children-friendly. There can be no contrary opinion here. For children to absorb the issues, it will be necessary for those to come packaged in language and content that they can receive easily. Why not have the idea take root?
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