AP to teach Disaster Management

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Disaster management will form part of high school syllabus in Andhra Pradesh from the 2010-11 academic year.
The Disaster Management Department has requested the Director of School Education to include Disaster Management as a subject in classes VII to X in a phased manner from the next academic year. The course would cover nature and types of disasters, need for their management, challenges and precautions needed to be taken to mitigate the affects and related aspects, according to Commissioner for Disaster Management Dinesh Kumar.
“Education and communication in disaster management plays a pivotal role in creating awareness, mobilizing people and also helps in capacity building by transferring knowledge, skills and technique to the people. Disaster management as a part of the syllabus in school subjects invariably aims at providing children with knowledge, attitudes and skills so that they are equipped to contribute meaningfully towards the betterment and solve the problems of environment and also protect oneself,” Dinesh Kumar pointed out.
As a first step, the Disaster Management Department has asked the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) to draft the curriculum for the course in consultation with experts from the National Council of Education Research and Training and Osmania University. Faculty from the University Grants Commission would also assist the team in drafting the curriculum.
“A series of workshops will be held at the A Madhava Reddy AP Academy of Rural Development here from August to identify the topics and develop the course content. Scope of the contents will be finalized by the experts and submitted to the government for approval,” a senior official in the Disaster Management Department said.
Andhra Pradesh would probably become the first state in the country to have Disaster Management as a subject in the school curriculum.