PESHAWAR: Separate training workshops on disaster risk reduction (DRR) were held for the male and female teachers in Kohat to build the understanding of teachers and ulema on the school/madressah safety and also enable the students to respond to emergency situations.

The workshops were organised by the Peace, Education and Development (Pead) Foundation in collaboration with the Unicef. According to a statement issued here on Sunday, as part of the ongoing Social Cohesion and Resilience Programme, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 60 teachers, including 30 females, from government schools and registered madressahs in Kohat completed their course on school/madressah safety and DRR.

During the sessions, some videos regarding how to use fire extinguisher and different rope knots formation were run. A practical demonstration of firefighting was also presented in which the teachers, ulema and their students also participated.

‘Most casualties in natural disasters have been reported to occur in schools and madressahs, thus the school/madrassa safety is indispensable,” Tariq Hayat, Pead programme manager, told the participants. He said that improving the understanding of teachers was vital for building the culture of safety and resilience.

‘It is imperative for them to learn about new methodologies for safe and quality learning and teaching environment,” Mr Hayat said, adding that according to a recent survey by RedR UK, the schoolchildren form one-third of about 200 million disaster victims every year around the globe. Therefore, if trained properly, a teacher can serve as a key actor to minimise the major risks and hazards at school in case of any disaster, he said. He thanked the elementary and secondary education department, Khyber Pkhtunkhwa, and Madressah boards for making the project a success.

The trained teachers are tasked to implement the safety action plans for their respective schools and madressahs with the technical support of field teams. All required equipment, including first aid boxes, fires extinguishers, DRR kits and other tools, have already been provided to the participating institutions.

Hafiz Mohammad Shoaib, a teacher from Madressah Rabiul Islam, Kohat, lauded the initiative of the Unicef and Pead Foundation for providing learning opportunities to the teachers, and added that the government should also take similar steps. Parvez Iqbal, a government school teacher in Kohat, said that the training workshop had broadened his knowledge about the school safety measures.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2015