17 June 2009 Page 1School Disaster Safety - Sri Lanka

School Disaster Safety in Sri Lanka

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Reasons Disasters affect Sri Lanka Children are vulnerable They can learn how to protect themselves

Objectives• to provide protection to students and school communities

• to reduce disaster risk through transfer of knowledge and skills to children and youth

• to develop a culture of safety, prevention and preparedness

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School Safety initiatives in Sri Lanka

School Security programme (Kumara Pawura) by Ministry of Education and Ministry of Defense on man made disasters

Emergency Education (INEE) by UNICEF to ensure education for children affected by emergencies

Mine Risk Education by UNICEF Integration of DM into the national teacher training and school

curricula, production of didactic material by GTZ School Disaster Safety by GTZ: Facilitation of the

development of National Guidelines with the Ministry of Education and the Disaster Management Centre, in cooperation with ADPC

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Developement of National Guidelines on School Disaster Safety

Steering Group:

Ministry of Education, Nat. Institute of Education, Disaster Management Centre

Stakeholder group:

UNDP, UNICEF, GTZ, ADPC, Save the Children, Red Cross

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Contents of the Guidelines

7 steps:

1. Establish the school safety core team 2. Create awareness among the school

community3. Identify hazards and resources in the

school4. Establish and train school disaster

safety team 5. Prepare the school safety plan document6. Disseminate the plan and conduct mock

drills7. Evaluate and update the plan

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School Disaster Safety team

School Disaster Safety Core

Team

Search & Rescue Team

Site security Team Early warning

Team

First Aid Team

Mock Drill & Evacuation

Team

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To ensure the safety of students and school staff, everyone has to know how to evacuate the school and how to face emergencies.

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Implementation strategy of the Guidelines

Creation of steering and stakeholder groups Development of joint implementation strategy and plan by

MoE, NIE, DMC and stakeholders Selection of most vulnerable schools for pilot phase 2009 Awareness creation at provincial level by MoE and DMC Implementation at district level by education offices and

DMC district coordinators with support of stakeholders About 1.000 schools island wide involved Regular sharing of experiences, joint training programmes

and monitoring

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Thank you for your attention!