Govt to mainstream disaster reduction in education

By Francis Kagolo

The education ministry, with the help of UN education agencies, has embarked on a process to mainstream conflict and disaster risk reduction in the various school curricula.

The move also aims at ensuring that students are taught to be peaceful and school facilities like buildings are resistant to disasters like lightning and strong winds.

“Our children should know the risks connected to disasters and learn how to prevent or adapt to them. Teaching conflict risk reduction is also good for reducing violence both at school and in communities,” said Kamanda Bataringaya, the state minister for primary education.

He was addressing the press at the sidelines of the regional conference on integration of conflict and disaster risk reduction into education sector plans and policies in east and central Africa.

The conference was held at Golf Course Hotel in Kampala on Wednesday.

The process is spearheaded by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and  the children's rights and emergency relief organisation (UNICEF).

It comes at a time when the country is still nursing effects of disasters including floods which normally increase student and teacher absenteeism.

More than a dozen pupils were struck by lightning at various schools in Kiryandongo and others districts in 2011. Experts are predicting an increase in the frequency of natural disasters due to climate change.

Bataringaya said that the new framework will also involve enforcing the ministry’s guidelines such as those compelling authorities to install lighting arrestors on school buildings.

“We want to deal with disasters in schools head-on. District contracts committees have been overlooking the requirement of installing lightning arrestors. We are going to start following this up,” Bataringaya said.

Lyndsay Bird, the Programme Specialist at UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), said the process will boost adaptation to, and mitigation of climate change.

“Education systems not only suffer from emergencies and crises but can play a vital role in preventing and responding to emergencies and crises in a way that contributes to stability and supports the resilience process of vulnerable children and youth,” Bird said.

She explained that conflicts and disasters are not only a threat to national security and development, but they also affect equitable access to education.

On the other hand, “too little education and poor education quality and low relevance can lead to unemployment and poverty which increases the likelihood of conflict,” Bird added.

According to her, unequal access to education can also reinforce social division, fostering hostility and conflicts.