EXISTING CHILD FRIENDLY STRUCTURES IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS, WILL BE ENHACED BY DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND FIRST AID SKILLS

Goose pimple, the effect of shock, that arose from the narrative of some people that cared enough to put a call across to me as response to my previous post, on this platform, which of course relate to the one you're reading, in a way has prompted me to do a follow up. 

In view of the above, I wish to observe in this piece that any environment that children in large number gather on regular basis and for long hours, on almost daily basis: five out of seven days of a week, should be of interest to all adults and sane minds, in any Society. This narrative and the assertion that does with holds, a lot, particularly for the schools.

While it may sound interesting for anyone  to argued that pupils and students, in the primary and secondary schools, are always under the care of their teachers, it is equally of essence to consider the ratio of teachers to students/pupils. This consideration, if viewed with the right leave, suggest otherwise. 

Truth be told, during play, the schools cannot guarantee effective coverage, of the children by their teachers. The scenario in most of the homes that the students and pupils come from, and retire to, are not different. Fact is, many children stay without Adult care most of the time. 

The above clarification, though, very brief, is captivating enough, to enable anybody with the interest of the child at heart, to think in terms of providing the school children with opportunity to acquire DRR and FA skills, in their respective schools. The benefits among others include, helping to strengthen existing child friendly infrastructures, structures and activities in schools. It will equally inject new ones as well. 

Effective implementation of the DRR and FA ideas envisioned in this piece, will induce the creation of local, age appropriate materials: improvised/improvisation tools and all other contents of similar nature. It will equally encourage and promote, experiential, functional and competency learning methods, that will ginger, deepen and sustain the interest, passion and commitment of the growing children, to every other activities of the school system. 

There is no arguing the fact that channeling their energy, as growing children positively and passionately, towards creating in their psyche and consciousness, a culture that strongly supports safety and DRR behaviours, and helping them to imbibe the core values of a First Aid oriented lifestyle, will be of huge benefit to the child, the family and the society at large. 

I am optimistic that helping the growing child with DRR and FA skills, re-orienting and encouraging them to take the lessons very serious, and deploy the skills to care for one another, will benefit the school community. Building their skills and knowledge of volunteerism and humanitarianism are synonymous with betrothing to them, a society driven by the core principles and spirit of preparedness, risk reduction, and emergency/quick intervention; and commitment to raising resilient citizens and communities. 

Massive action, support systems, and collaborations across different ages, sex, religions and learning are required to attain the noble feat envisioned in this piece. Leaning on this premise, I place a clarion call to Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs), schools, and communities, including institutions and groups to rise up, and create packages, deliberately designed to support, encourage and promote the grooming of Pupils and Students to build their skill and knowledge of Disaster and first aid. 

Nnabugwu Chizoba