Safety lessons on cards for schoolchildren in the state

Students in nearly 14,000 schools in the state will soon get lessons in disaster management, road safety and food safety which are aimed at equipping them to tackle real-life situations effectively.

The Directorate of Public Instruction is planning to introduce these topics in the schools through the ongoing school health programme under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Most of the inputs on disaster management and road safety have been prepared by Muralee Thummarukudy who leads disaster risk reduction projects of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Director of Public Instruction Biju Prabhkar, who holds the additional charge of the Food Safety Commissioner, has given his suggestions on incorporating food safety tips, against the backdrop of rising food-poisoning cases involving children.

“There is a need to educate children about various aspects of disaster management. The idea is to equip children to effectively deal with real-life situations and to teach them what to do and what not to do in the event of a crisis,” Prabhakar told Express.

“Students should be encouraged to take the lead in crisis situations. They should be able to administer first aid and take basic safety precautions which need to be adopted during a natural calamity,” he said.

The school health programme already has total coverage in schools with more than 2,500 students.

The services of junior public health nurses are available in 30 percent of the schools on a permanent basis and on a temporary basis in the remaining schools.

Besides checking students for diseases, these nurses conduct awareness campaigns for students.

“We are planning to extend the coverage of the school health programme to all schools in the state. An additional 1,900 junior public health nurses are being recruited. They will be deployed across the state so that each school gets their service at least for a day in a week,” director of NRHM state mission Dr M Beena said.