Culture of Safety in SchoolsMandatory or a Choice

Culture of Safety in SchoolsMandatory or a choice

Culture of Safety in Schools: Mandatory or a choice This material is available in DIPECHOBangladesh website (www.dipecho-bd.org).The use and sharing of the information contained inthis material is encouraged i)with due acknowledgement of DG Health Services and ActionAidBangladesh ii) with acknowledgement of ECHO funding source of the material iii) Requireddisclaimer in case of re-printing and iv) with prior consent of DG Health Services and ActionAidBangladesh in case of re-printing.

AdvisorShakeb Nabi

Research Conducted byAsian Disaster PreparednessCenter (ADPC)

Photo CreditDRRSand DIPECHOProject,ActionAid Bangladesh

Published inDecember 2010

Published byActionAid BangladeshHouse No.8,Road No.136,Gulshan 1,Dhaka 1212Phone:02 9894216,9888006Website: www.actionaid.org and www.dipecho-bd.org

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PrefaceEach time a disaster occurs, masses of children are excluded from school andmany never return. Past experiences and the available evidences show thateducation sector is among the hardest hit along with other sectors in the eventof disasters in Bangladesh.Starting from Cyclones in 1970,1991,2007 and floodsin 1998,schoolswere interrupted due to structural collapse and proximity to thehazardsprone location.In the flood plain areamajority of schoolswere closed formore than three months during 1998 and 2007 floods. An estimated 5,927educational institutionswere fully or partially damaged by Cyclone Sidr,resultingin a total value of damage and losses of BDT 4.7 billion.Cases like fire accidents,threats to road injury or accidents and stampede are the human made hazardswhich make schools more vulnerable. Schools located in the urban and ruralareas do have different set of vulnerabilities as the nature of hazards andpotential threats are different.There is one common thread between urban andrural schools which is- lack of culture of safety in schools- to have minimumstandards/measuresto protect studentsand teachersfrom any natural or humanmade hazard, learning materials and property. Culture of safety in schoolscapture issues like child's right, education and DRR policies, institutions,governance, resource allocation, disaster preparedness and family inclusionwithin the framework of internal and external environment of the school toreduce the impact of any possible threats to children.The framework of cultureof safety in school moves around child's right to uninterrupted continuouseducation,child'sright for safe environment and disaster risk reduction.

Dr.Bhichit RattakulExecutive DirectorAsian Disaster PreparednessCenter (ADPC)

About the research workSchool safety and preparedness is still in the form of choice not as a mandatoryrequirement for schools in Bangladesh. DRR and education programs mustreflect the coherence in terms of reducing the disaster impacts in educationsector. Countries like Belize, Iran, Sri Lanka have gone far ahead in institutionalcommitment. After the Bam (Iran) earthquake, central government passed theSchool Safety Act of 2006 in the parliament.Belize also has gone mile ahead inbringing the school safety policy into place to protect children from hurricanes.In Sri Lanka, the government has developed a national guideline towardsmaking disaster safe schools. Cambodia, Lao PDR and the Philippines havebrought the 'priority implementation partnerships' to mainstream disaster riskreduction into education sector. Ministry of Education in Turkey has madeevacuation drillsmandatory in all the schools.

The realization of this research work came after the field visit to Action AidBangladesh's working area in Chittagong and ADPC's work under theComprehensive Disaster Management Program (CDMP) and under DIPECHOwith Islamic Relief and Plan Bangladesh. ADPC's training and advocacycomponent under CDMP was focused on School Safety on Earthquakes whereDhaka,Sylhet and Chittagong citieswere intervened to create awarenessamongschools and education authorities. Discussions with teachers, students, schoolmanagement committees, and education authorities were made to understandhow schools manage students in terms of protecting their lives during schoolhours. It was found that schools do practice symbolically in terms of safetymeasures,but there is lack of understanding by the school authoritiesabout thepotential threat to the children. In the absence of government regulation onsafety and audit measures, school management committee (SMC) does takevery little initiatives to ensure the safety of the children.Realizing the impact ofdisasters (natural and human made) and absence of safety and audit measuresin schools, this research intends to investigate and advocate, how a culture ofsafety can be practiced or adopted to enable a safer environment (internal andexternal) for future of Bangladesh, i.e. children, instead of making safety andpreparedness,achoice.

AcronymsCBOs Community based OrganizationsDDMC District Disaster Management CommitteeDMB Disaster Management BureauDPE Directorate of Primary EducationDPEO District Primary Education OfficeDRR Disaster Risk ReductionEFA Education For AllHFA Hyogo Framework For ActionLGED Local Government Engineering DepartmentMDGs Millennium Development GoalsMoFDM Ministry of Food and Disaster ManagementMoPME Ministry of Primary and Mass EducationNGOs Non-government OrganizationsPEDP Primary Education Development ProgramPSQL Primary School Quality Level indicatorRNGPS Registered Non-Government Private SchoolSLIP School Level Improvement PlanSMC School Management CommitteeSWAP Sector Wide Approach ProgramUNISDR United Nation International Strategy for Disaster ReductionUpEO UpaZila Education OfficeUNO Union Nirbhai Officer

Forward ................................................................................................................................... 01

Preface ..................................................................................................................................... 02

About the research work .................................................................................................. 03

Acronyms............................................................................................................................... 04

Table of contents................................................................................................................. 05

List of Tables.......................................................................................................................... 06

List of Figures........................................................................................................................ 06

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 07

1.Disaster impact on Schools:A case of Bangladesh ........................................... 08

2.Culture of Safety in Schools in Bangladesh ........................................................... 10

3.Rationale of the research work .................................................................................. 11

4.Objective of the research ............................................................................................. 12

5.Research Methodology ................................................................................................. 12

6.Expected outcomesand limitations........................................................................ 13

7.Literature review ............................................................................................................. 13

8. Initiativeson School Safety in Bangladesh ............................................................ 21

9.Conceptual Framework Analysisof Culture of Safety in Schools .................. 22

10.Proposed culture of safety indicators in Bangladesh ...................................... 29

11.Recommendations....................................................................................................... 31

12.Way Forward .................................................................................................................. 33

13.Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 34

Table of contents

List of TablesTable 1 Projects of Primary Education (2008-2009)Table 2 PEDP II and DRR linkageTable 3 Linkage between education and DRR sectors in Sri LankaTable 4 Initiatives on School Safety in BangladeshTable 5 Achievements on School Safety around the regionsTable 6 Global Commitment in education sectorTable 7 Disaster and number of schools affected in BangladeshTable 8 Location and safer constructionTable 9 School Safety Report Card-How Safe is Your School?

List of FiguresFigure 1 Research DesignFigure 2 Organizational Structure MoPMEFigure 3 Disaster Management Institutions BangladeshFigure 4 Earthquake Preparedness Planning in SchoolsFigure 5 Earthquake Safety Drills in IranFigure 6 School Safety Framework

Executive SummaryDisaster trends have increased and its impact is all time high on vulnerablecommunities. Natural disasters are not new to Bangladesh and country hasrevolutionized its disaster preparedness by promoting community resilienceand volunteerism. As a result the impacts of cyclone SIDRcompared to cyclone1991 were very less on human lives though the property damage was still high.Past experiences and based on the available evidences, it shows that educationsector was hardest hit along with other sectors in the event of disasters. Apartfrom natural disasters, human induced hazards have become equallydangerous for schools due to their location and congestion. The alarming trendof disaster impactson education sector requiresbuilding up the environment tominimize the loss and damages that occurs frequently in and around theschools in Bangladesh. It is important to understand that there is a relevantlinkage between the concept of culture of safety and the impact of disasters ineducation sector. At present several initiativeshave begun to realize the disasterimpact in and around the schools by building teacher's capacities, throughschool safety and preparedness planning, raising awareness and mock drill. Butall these measure are taken by choice not as a requirement or mandatory forevery school. The national policy on disaster management has emphasized thatevery ministry to have a general guideline to incorporate disaster risk reductionagenda for the sectors. It also says that the development plans should addressdefining and redefining risk environment through hazard analysis, vulnerabilityassessment, risk evaluation and risk treatments and managing the riskenvironment by developing programs and strategies that reduces the risk.Policy and legislation is one of the key factors in reducing the risk on children.The research work expects to investigate how school safety can be prioritized inpolicy framework both in education and disaster management sector.

Realizing the impactsof concurrent disasters in Bangladesh on education sector,the national plan of action for children (2005-09) does recognize the urgency tobuild capacity of children's organization to participate in the development ofpolicies and programs which affects them through raising awareness onchildren's right to participate. There are remarkable initiatives taken by theGovernment of Bangladesh to minimize the risk pertaining to school andchildren. Physical strengthening of school buildings in the coastal and floodprone areas which is being used by the school and community as a shelter isone such initiative towards mitigating the disaster impact in education sector.There is need to have a common guideline for both the sectors to addresseducation and impacts of disasters. School safety guidelines can be composedof safer construction, facilities and outdoor consideration as well. A schoolsafety audit framework can be introduced to measure the strengths andweaknessesof the physical infrastructure. School safety preparednessshould bemandatory in all schools in Bangladesh. School drills are importantopportunities for student learning, beyond evacuation and other protectivebehaviours themselves. Indicators for culture of safety in schools can becomepart of Primary School Quality Level (PSQL) where facilities, learning andcapacity development of teachers and management committee are beingdiscussed.

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1.Disaster Impact on Schools:ACase of BangladeshDisaster trends have increased and its impacts are all time high on thevulnerable communities.Ad hoc development in all sectors including educationis making the community not only disastrous to live but also weakening theircoping capacities to withstand natural or human-induced disasters.Development and disasters are two sides of the same coin which would destroythe other unless both are tackled in unison. In such situation, Governments areunder great pressure and face huge challenge to continue providing basicservices such education during and aftermath of the disaster.There is no doubtthat disaster will always interrupt the continued education process and futuredevelopment, depending upon the time to recover and get back to the pre-disaster status.Natural disasters are not new to Bangladesh and the country has revolutionizedthe disaster preparedness by promoting community resilience andvolunteerism. That was the reason why the impacts of cyclone SIDR incomparison to cyclone in 1991 was very less on human lives though thedamage wasvery high.An estimated 5,927 educational institutionswere fully orpartially damaged by Cyclone SIDR, resulting in a total value of damage andlossesof BDT4.7 billion .Past experiencesand the available evidencesshow thateducation sector was hardest hit along with other sectors in the event ofdisaster. Starting from Cyclone of 1970, 1991, 2007 and floods of 1998, schoolswere interrupted due to structural collapse. In the flood plain area majority ofschools were closed for more than three months. Schools in rural and urbanareasof Bangladesh face different set of hazards ranging from natural to humaninduced. In terms of natural hazards, floods and cyclone are recurringphenomena which have a devastating impact on schools in flood plain andcoastal areas. Earthquake is a potential threat for Bangladesh and there wouldbe a litmus test for the country if intensity such as in Haiti, or Sichuan or Bamcomes. More than 400 students of Chhotomerung Ashrafia Dakhil Madrasaunder Dighinala upazila are attending their classes, risking life as cracks havedeveloped in several parts of the Madrasa building due to earthquake and hasnot been repaired for last two years.Apart from natural hazards, human induced hazards have become equallydangerous for the schoolsdue to their location and congestion.Many schools incity area are in constant threat of fire hazards, road accident and injury. About5.4 lakh studentsand teachersof 533 government and private schools in the cityare at high risk of fire accidents as most of these institutions do not have fire-fighting systems.Students of these schools are not aware of fire safety since theschool management do not impart any training on tackling emergencysituations. None has an emergency fire plan to evacuate children in an orderlymanner in case of a fire. The structure of many school buildings, like that ofDhanmondi Government Boys' High School, is not suitable for students toescape during a fire1 Damage and Need Assessment 2008,pp-33

2The Daily Star,29 August 2010 -website,28 May 2010

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incident. This is one kind of example from Dhaka city and there are manynumbersof such scenario that can be discussed.

The annual number of injury related child deathshasgone up to 30,000 and thenumber of permanent disabilities caused by injuries is more than 13,000 everyyear (Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey 2005).These figures may or may notbe indicative only for children who do not attend school. However, childrenspend more or less six to seven hours in schools and the chances of facing roadaccidentsor injury becomes30 per cent.

Countries like Iran, Belize, Sri Lanka,Turkey, Philippines and Lao PDRhave gonebeyond the institutional commitment and efforts are on to realize school safetynot only asa policy but also aslegislation.Bangladesh isconsidered to be a zoneof multiple vulnerabilities where threat from disasters varies from range ofhazards such as floods, cyclones, earthquakes and other human-inducedhazards such as fire, road accident and injury and schools have to be ready andprepare enough to deal with the complexities of hazards and their possibleconsequences.

Bangladesh has become a role model for the world on cyclone preparednessand a cadre of skilled volunteers (more than 40,000) has taken the lead role as afrontier. Schools of Bangladesh where millions of children study, who may nothave equal physical ability as CPP volunteers but are the strongest medium tobring about change and save their own lives and others too from any possiblehazards or disasters. The commitment of Government of Bangladesh toincorporate disaster into education sector is in progress. Schools cum shelterhave become the concrete image at the community level coping with floods orcyclone. Bangladesh has yet to reach a milestone by bringing school safetyconcerns into policy framework and legislation.

3 The Daily Star,4th December 2004,website,28 May 2010

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2.Culture of Safety in Schoolsin BangladeshThe alarming trend of disaster impacts on education sector requires building theenvironment to minimize the loss and damages that occur frequently in and around theschools of Bangladesh. Education sector in any country plays a vital role since itcontributesgreatly in shaping the future of the country by educating the children.Lack ofproper precautions and investments to ensure continued education amidst of disasterswould result in uneducated youths thus creating unemployment and poverty.Therefore,the governments should take measures to safeguard schools and ensure education forchildren without delay. Everyday children spend 35-40 per cent of the time in school.Therefore,it is important to investigate whether children within eight to ten hours in andaround the school are safe or not,even if there is little possibility of any disaster to occurin due time. Does the school has a culture of safety in practice to protect thousands oflivesof children due to human and natural disasters?'Culture of Safety' has been defined in the public health field as "the utopianenvironment where medical errors do not occur because everyone is safety-consciousenough to avoid all mistakes" (Iowa Department of Public Health,n.d.) .Since 1980s therehas been a large amount of research conducted on safety culture, however the conceptstill remains largely "ill defined" (Guldenmund, 2000) . The published literature varies indefining the concept where some arguments are in favour of the concept and some arenot.Safety culture isa term often used to describe the way in which safety ismanaged inthe workplace, and often reflects "the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and values thatemployeesshare in relation to safety" .Despite the ambiguity in defining safety culture, there is no uncertainty over therelevance or significance of the concept .Mearnset al.,(2003) stated that "safety culture isan important concept that forms the environment within which individual safetyattitudesdevelop and persist and safety behavioursare promoted".Referring the above mentioned definitions;culture of safety can be defined asa meanstoreduce the impact of disaster or any possible threat to school and children throughbehavioural and attitudinal changes.Culture of safety can also be defined as the habit orpractice that one individual, or group of people or community adopt to protectthemselves from any harm or danger whether it is natural hazards or human madehazards.It is important to understand that the concept of culture of safety has a relevance to theimpact of disasters in education sector. As mentioned above, though there is noconsensus in defining the concept of culture of safety, there is no denial of the fact thatthe culture of safety ensures a safe environment to individual, neighbourhood,community, and society and the nation altogether. In this connection, school works as acatalyst in enabling the environment of culture of safety by bringing community andinstitution together to anticipate the future risk.The question now ishow to ensure aCulture of safety in practice to influence the attitudeand behaviour of children, teachers and management staff of school. Merely schooldisaster management plan and preparedness, awareness activities will not be able toserve the purpose to ensure the risk free lives for the children unless a culture of safetyand its practice becomes mandatory for every school whether government or private,primary or high secondary.4 http://www.idph.state.ia.us/patient_safety/glossary.asp.

5 Guldenmund,2000

6 Cox and Cox,1991 7Yule,2003

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If the potential threat either by natural hazards or human made is inevitablethen the bigger question is how to bring a culture of safety in schools inBangladesh. If the impact of disasters (natural or human made) is so high inschools then a culture of safety should be defined and inbuilt into the educationpolicy,programsand projects itself.

At present several initiatives have begun to practice disaster safety measures inand around the schools by building the capacity of teachers through schoolsafety and preparednessplanning,raising awarenessand mock drill.But all thesemeasuresare still practiced aschoice and not asa requirement or mandatory forevery school. Schools in Bangladesh in general have little awareness orunderstanding on school safety. Safety of the school children is yet to be amandate in many partsof developing countries including Bangladesh.

3.Rationale of the Research WorkAs per the education policy guideline of Bangladesh, there is a linkage betweenpoverty reduction and economic development through human resourcedevelopment by promoting access to quality education. Government ofBangladesh is bringing structural reforms to maintain the commitment to theeducation sector in order to achieve Education For All (EFA) and MillenniumDevelopment Goals.The national policy on disaster management hasemphasizedthat every ministry must have a general guideline to incorporate disaster riskreduction agenda for their relevant sectors. It also says that the developmentplans should address defining and redefining risk environment through hazardanalysis, vulnerability assessment, risk evaluation and risk treatments andmanaging the risk environment by developing programs and strategies thatreduces the risk. For example, a school level improvement plan (SLIP) has beenintroduced under Primary Education Development Program (PEDPII) with the aimof increasing local participation in educational planning and ensuring overallimprovement of school facilities, learning environment and learning outcome ofthe students through the participation of stakeholders in the process ofdecentralization of planning activities at school level.SLIPcan also be seen withinthe framework of disaster risk reduction which ultimately would upholdeducation as a tool not only for poverty reduction and economic developmentbut at the same time creating safer environment in and around schools.

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Both education and disaster management policy requires to fuse together todevelop programs and projects which is a missing link at this moment, tobenefit education and ultimately studentswho are the future of the nation.Even schools which are used as shelter during disasters or post disaster timeslack school safety plans which should be the prerequisite to have any shelter inplace.In flood plain area and coastal citieswhere many of the schoolsare closedfor more than a month or two and in the event of a disaster, there is lack ofconsensus within the schools itself on safety measures that should be in placebeforehand.These two examples show that so far school safety is a choice andnot mandatory.Hence,the aim of the research work is to investigate how schoolsafety can be prioritized in policy framework both in education and disastermanagement sectors.

4.Objective of the ResearchThe objective of the research is to understand the school safety measureswhichcan be used to reduce the impact of natural or human-made hazards bydeveloping a conceptual framework of Culture of Safety in schools.

5.Research MethodologyThe research methodology has primarily focused on collection of secondarylevel data from various sources. Below mention is the methodology that thisresearch work hasadopted:

Figure 1:Research Design

Research ProblemResearch questions1. What are the global school safety

practices and achievements?

2. How does school safety anddisaster risk reduction have beenperceived in Bangladesh?

3. What should be the measurableindicators of culture of safety?

Impact factorNatural and human inducedhazards on schools (primary)

Structural and non-structuralaspects of safety

External and internal aspects ofsafety

Education during emergencies

Child's right and disaster riskreduction

Activities

In depth studiesSmall focused study examining thenational policies on education,DRR and exploring global schoolsafety measures, impact ofdisaster in education sectors

Development ofConceptualFramework ofCulture ofSafety in School

Findings1. Gap between

policy andprojectimplementation

2. MainstreamingDRR intoEducation sector

3. Introduction ofCulture of SafetyFramework

4. Recommendationon SchoolSafety Guidelinesand AuditChecklist

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6. Expected Outcomesand LimitationsThe research intends to investigate the current safety practices in schools inBangladesh. The major outcome of this research is to develop indicators forculture of safety for schools in Bangladesh against natural and human-madehazards.At the same time there are limitationsof the research work which are asfollows:

The research work is focused on government primary schools only

The research work investigates the current school safety practices onnatural hazardsand subsequently secondary hazards.

The research work is extensively dependent on secondary database.

7. Literature ReviewNational policiesformulationand implementation

The management and policy making of the education system falls under twoministries in Bangladesh.The Ministry of Primary and MassEducation (MoPME) isresponsible for primary education and mass literacy, and the Ministry ofEducation (MoE) is responsible for secondary,vocational and tertiary education.The education structure consists of a formal sub-system and a non-formal sub-system.Both the sub-systems also have parallel religiousstreams.The MOPMEisresponsible for basic education,comprising formal free and compulsory primaryand literacy and non-formal education. The MOE is responsible for secondaryand higher education and also looks after the Madrasah (Islamic) and otherformal religious streams of education. More than 700 NGOs are active in non-formal education, with some of them organizing and managing formal primaryschoolsaswell.The private sector managesthe English medium schools.

Organizational structureof Ministryof Primaryand MassEducation (MoPME)

Figure 2: Organizational Structure MoPME

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MOPME

NCTB DPE

Division PrimaryEducation Office

District PrimaryEducation Office

Primary (Teachers)Training Institute (PTI)

Upazila Resource Centre(URCD)

Primary School

Upezila/ThanaEducation Office

NAPE CPEIMU BNFE

MOFME - Minisry of Primary and Mass EducationDPE - Directorate of Primary EducationCPEIMU - Compulsory Primary Eduction Implementation Monitoring UnitNAPE - National Acedemy for Primary EducationBNFE - Bureau of Non-formal EducationNCTB - National Curiculum and Textbook BoardC

Source:www.mopme.gov.bd Institute

Table 1: Projects of Primary Education (2008-2009)

1 Construction of Govt. Primary School under IDB Assistance(2nd Phase) (July '03 to June 2009)

2 Primary Education Development Programme -2 (July '03 to June 2010)

3 Reaching Out of School Children Project (Jul.'04 to June 2010)

4 Government Primary Schools Reconstruction and Renovation Project (2nd Phase) (Jul. '06 to June 2011)

5 Registered Non-Govt. Primary School Development Project(3rd Phase) (Jul. '06 to June 2011)

6 2007 flood affected and river eroded GPS reconstruction project (Jan. '08 to Dec 2010)

7 Primary Education Stipend project (2nd Phase) (July '08 to June 2013)

8 EC Assisted School Feeding Program (Jan '09 to June2013)

In MoPME, Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) is the operational body same as the DisasterManagement Bureau (DMB) in Ministry of Food and Disaster Management.

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Both the education and disaster management sectors have separateinstitutional set up from policy to implementation levels. At the nationallevel DPEand DMB work as the focal points for the respective ministries.At the district level, district primary education officer (DPEO) and districtdisaster management committee (DDMC) and below the district levelupzila education officer (UpEO) and union nirbhai officer (UNO) workseparately and implement the projects and programs. Considering thenational disaster management policy of Bangladesh which mandates thateach ministry should have a disaster risk reduction component in theirsectoral plans, however, there is a need to orient the programs andprojects implemented by the education sector within the framework ofdisaster risk reduction. In order to understand the missing link betweenthe MoPME and Ministry of Food and Disaster Management (MoFDM),Primary Education Development Program (PEDP II) was reviewed to seehow the program implemented by the education ministry consider theexisting aspects of potential threat from recurring natural and humaninduced disasters such as floods, cyclone and fire. The PEDP programcovers range of issues to ensure the access, quality, equity, relevance andeffectiveness to education but there is a scope to consider the impact ofdisasters too. Ultimately in the event of disaster, access, quality, equity,relevance and effectiveness will disrupt depending upon the magnitudeof disasters. The disaster management rhetoric in Bangladesh is not verynew and this ishigh time to mainstream through the MoPME. The belowmatrix showshow the Program implemented by the

Disaster Management Institution in Bangladesh

Ministry of Food and Disaster Management

DGFood DRR DMB

Zone/ Upzila

Union

Village

CPPIB

District DisasterManagement Committee

Municipal DisasterManagement Committee

City CorporationDMC

Upazila Disaster Management Committee

Union Disaster Management Committee

NDMC

IMDMCC NDMAC

Figure 3:Disaster Management InstitutionsBangladesh

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The overall goal ofPEDP II is toreduce povertythrough universalprimary educationand sustainablesocio-economicdevelopment andequi t y inB a n g l a d e s hsociet y asenvisaged in theM i l l e n n i u mD e v e l o p m e n tGoals (MDGs). Forprimary educationsector, this meansto provide qualityprimary educationto all eligiblechildren inBangladesh

Component 1:Quality primaryeducation througho r g an i zat i o n aldevelopment andcapacity building

Component 2:Improved qualityin schools andclassrooms

Component 3:Q u a l i t yi m p r o v e m e n tt h r o u g hi n f r ast r u c t u r edevelopment

Component 4:Improving ands u p p o r t i n gequitable accesst o qual i t yschooling

The purpose of component 1 is to buildcapacity in the administration bothcentrally and the Upazila level. Capacitybuilding will instigate a shift in focus toquality improvement and anorganizat ion with increasedaccountability and ability to route moreresourcesto the schools

The purpose of component 2 is toimprove the teaching and learningenvironment so that all schools meetthe PSQL criteria, and so ensure betterquality of learning.

The purpose of component 3 is toprovide sustainable infrastructure,facilities and equipment to encourageand facilitate improve and equitableaccess for all children, leading toimproved student achievement.Component 3 focuses on the physicalinfrastructure of the primary educationsector, with new classrooms andassociated facilit ies needed toaccommodate planned increases incompetent teachersand pupils.

The purpose of component 4 is to createa supportive policy-and institutionalenvironment in primary education sothat the system is better prepared toaddress the needs of children who havenever attended formal primary school orwho have dropped out beforecompleting primary school cycle due topoverty, disability or any other reason.The component should address bothdemand and supply side constraints.

Upazila is important and vitaladminist rat ive unit inBangladesh. One of theoutcomes of the component 1is to build the capacity ofUpazila Education Office tohave a better planning toimprove enrolment andinternal efficiency. Schoolslocated in flood plain andcoastal areas struggled toaccommodate the annualroutine due to disruption byfloods or cyclone. Inclusion ofpossible impact of hazardsinto the planning of UEOsmayadd value to improveenrolment and internalefficiency of UEOs.

As this component is focusedon building capacity ofteachers, head teachers andschool staff, they can also betrained on disaster riskreduction and facilitat ingschool level activities onreducing the impacts ofdisasters.

The construction of primaryschools can be incorporatedbased on existing hazardssuch as earthquake, floodsand cyclone. The past eventsshow that the schoolbuildings were severelydamaged due to floods,cyclones and minorearthquake tremor.

PEDP II program Components ofPEDP Purpose DRR linkage

Table 2:PEDPII and DRRlinkage

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School Safety Act in IranThe school safety act in Iran came after the major earthquake struck in 2005, wheremore than 10,000 students died because of building collapse. More than 1000teachers died and around 80 per cent of the school buildings were completelydestroyed. To understand the gravity of the problem which was not the earthquakebut the lack of safety culture, the Government of Iran took major initiatives tominimize the impact of disaster in the following three key areas:

School earthquake safety initiativeSchool Safety ActEarthquake Safety Education in Schools

In 2006, the Iranian Parliament passedthe School Safety Act forreconstruction by strengthening thevulnerable classrooms. There are twoaspects for this initiative which can beseen in terms of structural and non-structural. National programs wereintroduced to ensure that schools arebuilt safely as well as establish specialstandard and guideline for SafeSchools. At school level, preparednessplanning was operationalized andmade mandatory by the Governmentof Iran. The major achievements canbe seen asshown in table 1.

Earthquake Preparedness Planningin School

CHILDREN AT RISKDISASTER IMPACTSFINDING SOLUTIONSSAFETY INTLATIVESTAKING ACTION

Support Information Search andRescue

First Aidand Relief

FireExtingnishing Recovery

Schools

Safety Council

Operational Teams

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National Guidelinesfor School Disaster Safety in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan government took a decisive step towards disaster management andconsidered education sector as a vehicle immediately after Tsunami struck in2004. Disaster Management Act came into existence with the Road Mapsuggesting all sectors to include disaster risk reduction into the plan andprograms. Schools are being engaged to mobilize students, teachers and staffand relevant agencies and officials to develop the culture of safety. Curriculumdevelopment, to enhance pedagogy-teacher's training, awareness raising ondisaster risk reduction have now become mandatory for the education sector towork in partnership closely with Disaster Management Ministry.Table 3 shownbelow explains the coordination mechanism under which education anddisaster management ministrieswork together.

Table 3: Linkage between education and DRR sectors in Sri Lanka

Actors in education sector Coordination Actors in the field of disastermanagement

National level Minisrty of EducationDevelopment and introductionof guidelines on educationpolicy

Minisrty of DisasterManagement and Human Rights

Development and introductionof guidelines on disasterpreparedness and management

Disaster Management CenterAnalysis of Disaster RiskCoordination of DisasterPrevention, early warningand disaster managementSupport for and implementationof preventive activities

Minisrty Institute of EducationCurriculum DevelopmentPre-service and in-serviceTeacher trainingDevelopment of didacticmaterial

Center for Educational leadershipand development

In Service training in leadershipfor principalsand educationmanagers

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College of Education andTeachers Training Institutes

Teacher training

Coordinating school clusterauthorities

Teachers training centre for in-service training

In service teachers training inmethodological knowledge andskills

District offices of DisasterManagement Center

Awareness RaisingDisaster Management

Provincial level Previncial educational authoritiesSchoolcluster/Districtlevel

School Principals School Development

In service teacher trainersSpecial in service training ofcolleagues

In Schools

Source:Teaching DisasterRisk Management in Sri Lankaschool,pp-12

School SafetyaroundtheWorldSchool safety in Americashave gone mile ahead and much emphasishave beengiven to bring different bilateral and multilateral agencies into one commonplatform to mitigate disaster risks for education sector. Framework such asCentral American and Dominican Republic for Education and Disaster RiskReduction, a Latin American regional thematic educational platform with thesupport of UNISDR and involvement of academic universities have worked aswatchdog to increase pressure on governmentsand international/local agenciesto integrate disaster risk reduction into education sector.In Asia and the Pacific, systematic policy or institutional commitment has beenachieved. Iran, Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, Syria, Korea, Indonesia, Philippinesand Lao, are the examples. However, those countries also report the absence ofpolicy and guidelines on how to integrate disaster risk reduction intocurriculum,education materialsand training.In Africa, while Madagascar and Malawi report substantial achievements inmainstreaming DRR into education, most other countries report only minorprogress. In all, 12 countries state that disaster risk reduction has not beenincluded in educational curriculum. In Angola and Burundi, UNICEF hascollaborated with the Ministries of Education in arranging workshops andpromoting the integration of disaster risk reduction into education. InMadagascar,the Ministry of Education and the UN have jointly developed schoolmaterials on disaster risk reduction and manuals that are used in all schoolsthroughout the country. Mozambique has started pilot projects in primaryschools, in training teachersand children in how to live with disasters.In BurkinaFaso 'environmental education' for primary school level has been adopted anddisaster risk reduction is partly integrated into higher education. Most of thecountries that have not integrated disaster risk reduction into the schoolcurriculum yet, list the lack of educational materials especially in vernacularlanguages,asamajor obstacle.

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18 countries raisedawareness among schoolcommunit ies anddeveloped schoolprot ect ion plans(Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, theDominican Republic,Ecuador, El Salvador,Guatemala, Honduras,Jamaica, Mexico,Nicaragua, Panama, Peru,USA,Venezuela).

17 countries organizedactivities related to thetheme of the campaignBangladesh, BruneiDarussalam, People'sRepublic of China, Fiji,India, Indonesia, Japan,Lao PDR, Nepal, Niue,Papua New Guinea, thePhilippines, Singapore,Tajikistan, Thailand,Tuvalu,VietNam).

A number ofc o u n t r i e smarked theInternat ionalDay forD i s a s t e rReduction

In Iran, all primary,secondary and highschools (over130,000 schools)took part in its '8thNational Drill' as partof its 'Annual SchoolEarthquake & SafetyInit iative'. Over 14mill ion schools t u d e n t sparticipated

Costa Rica and Peruintegrated DRR into theirschool curricula

2 regional DIPECHOprojects with UNICEF, incollaboration with theUN/ ISDR secretariat ,helped strengthen localcapacities of EducationMinistries and CivilProtection Departments,including in Guatemala,Nicaragua, El Salvador,Costa Rica, Honduras andPanama.

In Nepal, DRR-trainedschool students havebecome "risk educationambassadors" to otherschools

In India, a single programmehelped some 100,000students and 2,500 teachersin 200 schoolsdevelop schooldisaster management plans

DRR initiatives targetingschool communitiesare under way in countriessuch as Slovakia, Romania,Bulgaria,Spain,France andthe Czech Republic

Nat ional stateprogrammes on DRRtarget ing schoolcommunit ies areunder way incountries such as Iran,India, Indonesia,Nepal, the Philippinesand Turkey.

DRR init iat ives wereundertaken in countries suchas Austria, France, Hungaryand Slovenia.In Armenia, a training projecthelped turn 375school students, teachers andschool principals intoqualified DRRtrainers

Asia and the PacificRegions

The Americas Europe West Asia and North Africa

Table 4:Achievementson School Safety around the regions

Achievements on School Safety in Regions

21

Table 4 provides interesting details about the initiatives take up by variousstakeholders in different regions. Most of the initiatives around the world onschool safety are still at the very initial phase of building consensusand creatingawareness with the involvement governments, academia, internationalorganizations,local authorities,practitioners,schoolsand community.

Hyogo Framework of ActionThe integration of DRRinto school curricula and public awarenesshasbeen highon the agenda of multi-, regional,bilateral and national governmental and non-governmental organizations, particularly in the aftermath of the Indian OceanTsunami and reiterated in the Delhi Declaration.While an outperforming groupof 25 countries (including Australia, Hong Kong China, Islamic Republic of Iranand New Zealand) report comprehensive or substantial achievements,Bangladesh, Republic of Korea and Nepal have reached institutionalcommitment. The remaining countries have not yet made significant progress.However, Sri Lanka and Nepal as well as Tajikistan in Central Asia haveintroduced DRR into school curricula of selected grades during the reportingperiod .The interim regional synthesis report on the implementation of HyogoFramework for Action suggests that, to influence perception and behaviour withregards to school safety DRReducation at school and pre school level could beimportant strategy. It further says that many of the initiative in the area of DRRconcentrated as project activities. However, there is a need to have systematicapproach in dealing education and DRRsectors to provide technical assistanceto design DRR curricula, training materials, structural resilience and non-structural safety of school building.

8. Initiativeson School Safety in BangladeshIn Bangladesh several international and national level non-governmentorganizations have taken initiatives on school safety. An exhaustive list of suchinitiativeshasshown below:

Table 5:Initiativeson School Safety in Bangladesh

8 Regional Synthesis Report on Implementation of the HFA in Asia and Pacific 2007 - 2008/ 09

Action-Aid BangladeshConcern UniversalIslamic Relief Worldwide

Plan Bangladesh

Save the Children UKUNICEF

Comprehensive DisasterManagement Program(CDMP)

Safer school Safer CommunityEstablishment of School badges, development of training manual on School safetyDevelopment of teachers manual, TOT for teachers and staff, development of SchoolSafety and Preparedness Plan and simulationDevelopment of teachers manual, TOT for teachers and staff, development of SchoolSafety and Preparedness Plan and simulationCo-lead in Education in emergencies1. UNICEF, the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh, The Alliance

for Safe Children and the Government of Bangladesh are currently monitoring theSchool Safety programme in schools like Brommogacha, with a view to incorporatinginjury- related subjects in the national social studies curriculum.

2. Co-lead in Education in emergencies3. School theatre to promote hygiene practice after cyclone SIDRDevelopment of Earthquake School Safety Manual

Organization Initiatives

22

9.Conceptual Framework Analysisof Culture ofSafety in Schools

Figure 6: School Safety Framework

National Platform onDRR

Resources

Stakeholders

GovernmentInstitutions

Policyand

External environment

Internal environment

Personswithdisabilities

Safety Audit

Gender

Family andCommunity

Resources

Schoolmanagementcommittee/PT

RiskAssessment

Education inEmergencies

Child'sRight to

education

DisasterRisk

Reduction

Cultureof Safetyin schools

23

The framework of culture of safety in school moves around child's right touninterrupted continuous education, child's right for safe environment anddisaster risk reduction. School also has been seen influenced by internal andexternal factors when it comes to safety of the children. In this section effortswill be made to analyze the internal and external environment of schoolkeeping children'sright to education and disaster risk reduction asayardstick.

External EnvironmentNational plan on children and disaster risk reductionPolicy and legislation is one of the key factors in reducing the risk on children.Realizing the impact of concurrent disasters in Bangladesh on education sector,the national plan of action for children (2005-09) does recognize the urgency tobuild capacity of children's organizations to participate in the development ofpolicies and programs which affects them through raising awareness onchildren's right to participate. It includes building the capacity of NGOs andCBOs who work with children under the guidelines of Ministry of DisasterManagement and relief. On the other hand, the national plan for disastermanagement (2008-2015) also approves to include disaster risk reductionperspectives into primary, secondary and tertiary levels educations thoughdeveloping and implementing school safety plan including national schoolsafety plan and school building level emergency response plans. Comparingboth National Plan of Action for Children and National Disaster ManagementPlan,there isa link which describes the vision of the Government of Bangladeshto reduce the disaster risk by promoting children's right to education.This alsoprovides rationale to this research work to explore the comprehensiveframework for school safety which is more than school safety plan andpreparedness.Global initiatives on school safety have gone far ahead. A comparison can bemade with the Ahmadabad Agenda,Islamabad Declaration and Bangkok ActionAgenda to see where Bangladesh standson schoolssafety.

Table 6: Global Commitment in education sector

9 International Conference on School Safety 18th - 20th January, 2007Ahmadabad, India10 ASIA PACIFICREGIONALWORKSHOPON SCHOOL EDUCATION AND DISASTERRISKREDUCTION 8-10 October 2007,Bangkok,Thailand11 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SCHOOL SAFETY Islamabad May 14 - 16,2008

Ahmadabad Agenda 2007

1. Risk reduction education in schools,2. Disaster resistant school infrastructure, safe school and community

environment and3. Advocacy and government policy on school safety

24

There are remarkable initiatives taken by the Government of Bangladesh tominimize the risk pertaining to schools and children. Physical strengthening ofschool buildings in the coastal and flood prone areaswhich isbeing used by theschool and community at large as a shelter; is one such initiative towardsmitigating the disaster impact in education sector. Under ComprehensiveDisaster Management Program (CDMP) schools were focused to create anenvironment of safety through plans and simulations. As the National Plan onDisaster Management proposes the national level school safety program, thisrequires to consider and link with the development programs in educationsector so that both policies and programs at national level from disastermanagement and education merge together and trickle down to the schoollevel ensuring both children'sright to education and disaster risk reduction.

InstitutionsIn Bangladesh both government and non-government institutions cater theeducational needs of the poor. However primary education has been assumedby the Government of Bangladesh's responsibility under the provision ofuniversal compulsory primary education recognized by the Constitution ofBangladesh and the Compulsory Primary Education Act 1990. At the districtlevel both education and disaster institutions are in place. District primary andsecondary education offices and district disaster management committeechaired by Deputy Commissioner. Facilities Department and Local Governmentand Engineering Department (LGED) are responsible for the construction andinfrastructure development of the schools. These institutions can play verycrucial role in building the external environment around the school by ensuringsafer construction and bare minimum infrastructure as per hazard andgeographical areas. At this moment, there is very little coordination amongdirectorate of primary and secondary education offices at the district level,district disaster management committee, facilities department and LGED tomerge the two parallel issues of children's right to education and disaster riskreduction. The damage of school infrastructure and properties is the concreteevidence to the above argument where disasters are continuously hitting hardin both flood plain and coastal areas, besides the day to day potential threatsdue to human hazardsto schools in the urban areas.Authoritiesat the local levelneed to merge their vision and mandate to ensure children's safety throughdisaster risk reduction.

StakeholdersIn the category of external environment, donors, INGOs/NGOs and CBOs playvery important role on child's right to education and disaster risk reduction. InBangladesh as per the school survey report 2007, 25 percent of the primaryschools out of 81,434 are managed by non-government organizations asregistered non-government private school (RNGPS). Primary schools around37,672 are governed by government of Bangladesh. This quantify the role ofRNGPS and government in ensuring child's right to education where disasterrisk reduction is equally important for both government and NGPS as well topromote culture of safety in schools in Bangladesh.

25

ResourcesResources are keys to ensure the implementation of the child's right toeducation and disaster risk reduction.Under the Compulsory Primary EducationAct of 1990, first Primary Education Development Program (PEDP I) came intoeffect with a set of 27 projects in education sector under the Ministry of Primaryand Mass Education (MoPME). PEDP I adopted a sector wide approach (SWAP)and gained recognition by various development and donor agencies as well.Against this backdrop,PEDPII is being currently implemented and governmentis taking a lead role in program coordination under the guidance of MoPME.ThisPEDPII has components which focus on quality of primary education improvedthrough organizational development and capacity building; qualityimprovement through infrastructure development; improved access toeducation especially for the poorest and socially excluded; and effectiveimplementation, management and monitoring. The initiative taken by theGovernment of Bangladesh for primary education would ensure education forall in line with MDGs goal. The inclusion of disaster risk reduction componentwould be able to reduce the impact in education by several potential threats ofdisasters.

National Platform on DRRWith the involvement of several stakeholders in disaster risk reduction,nationalplatform on DRR serves as coordination forum to seek political and legalcommitment, to ensure the multi-stakeholder collaboration and coordinationfor the sustainability of DRR.The national platform on DRRin Bangladesh can beviewed to engage various sectors engagement with their diverse perspectivesand action build on existing systemsand mechanism.

Internal EnvironmentSafety auditSchool safety is the responsibility of many stakeholders including governments,school management, teachers, student, parents and the community.The safetylevel of aschool can be identified by conducting school safety audit.Safety auditcan become an integral part of the school management to ensure safety amongchildren,teachersand management staff.As discussed earlier, the disaster impacts on education sector clearly urges theauthorities to consider the hazard and the disaster risk factor so that the schoolbuildings can be resilient to any disastrous event. At the country level floodinundation maps,cyclone prone areas and earthquake zoneshave already beendeveloped. The importance of risk exposure should come in place before theconstruction

26

of school building.While comparing the impact of disasters on primary schools,it indicates that there is a need to have different sets of construction designssuiting to the hazard prone areasin the country.

Table 7: Disaster and number of schools affected in Bangladesh

Source: 1) Karim, Nehal (2005). Cyclonic Storms in the Coastal areas ofBangladesh: Socio-economic impact. 2) APIT, 2009. Minimizing EducationInfrastructure LossesDue to Disaster

There are many aspects of location and safer construction which requires theeducation institutions to ensure construction of disaster resilient schoolsthroughout the country which include the following:

Disaster Number of Primary schoolsBuildingsaffected Total

Floods 1998Cyclone1991Flood 2004Flood 2007SIDR 2007Aila 2009

1,718

853205

3,7052,534

Fully12,000

17,0008,668

784354

13,718 9,287

17,8538,8734,4892,888

Partially

SiteBuildingArchitecural design aspectFumishing and equipmentsOutdoor facilitiesDesign parameterPlanning and implementation

Location and safer construction

It is important to understand how education institutions' infrastructureshave been put in place: whether they considered location and saferconstruction or not.

Source: School Construction Guideline, Lao PDR 2009

Table 8: Location and safer construction

27

Human Resources: For the purpose of this research, human resources do not meanthe number of teachersavailable in a school.Knowledge about disaster risk reductionand managing the school in the event of any natural and human made disaster isimportant.At present there is little attention to build the capacity of school teacherson disaster risk reduction though they are responsible to teach students aboutnatural hazardsand disasters.

Material Resources:Material resourcesare very important in emergency situations.Itis not mandatory that every school should have standard quality equipments but it ismandatory that every school should have at least the

Risk Assessment and Safety PlanAt school level, risk assessment and safety plan is the second step towards ensuringsafety environment within and outside school.School safety audit is the diagnosisof theexisting risk within and outside the school. Audit outcome serves the purpose ofassessment and development of safety plan become the treatment of the hazard andrisk in the internal and external environment of the school.

Education in EmergenciesAs a part of the UN Humanitarian Reform, UNICEF and Save the Children weredesignated as global cluster co-leaders for education in emergencies. In line with globalagreement UNICEF and Save the Children in Bangladesh have agreed to co-lead theeducation cluster.The risk assessment and safety plan can be integrated into educationin emergencies to ensure that schoolsare well prepared to respond during emergenciesand continue education aswell.

School Management Committee/Parent TeachersAssociationSchool Management Committee (SMC) is formed as per the government directives withcertain well defined functions and parents teacher association play a supporting role inbuilding a favourable teaching and learning environment in schools. The SMC'sdirectives can provide more space to the teachers and students to be part of thecommittee to represent the school in decision making process on child's right anddisaster risk reduction.

ResourcesSchool resource can be seen in four aspects such as; human, material, information andfinancial.12 Stay Safe:Twigg,J.2007

a.

b.

28

basic resources which are found in their surrounding environment, using which theycan prepare necessary equipments during an emergency. For example, if a schoolcannot afford to have medical stretchers, they can use bamboo and bed sheets/rugsto make temporary stretchers. During the field visits, it was observed that manyschools awaits the external organizations to provide them with the necessarymaterials rather than actively search for locally available resources by themselves.Many non-governmental organizations have taken very important initiatives toprovide material resources and trained school teachers and students on the usage ofequipments related to first aid,search and rescue and fire safety.However,a questionarises whether schools are interested to invest time and budget to mobilize bareminimum equipment to deal with disaster situation or not?It isbetter to indentify therequirements of material based on the existing hazards, available local materials andthen how to access the materials. Under various projects and programs, non-governmental organizations donate first aid, stretchers, fire extinguishers and othernecessary equipments.But these donationsare in limited schoolsand areas.

Information resources: Location of school decides the accessibility of informationresources in Bangladesh. Possession of relevant technical, procedural and otherinformation and ease of accessto it.

Financial resource:budgeting for the above.

Family and CommunitySchools need to work closely with families to enable children to achieve their full potential.Thefamily environment can reinforce health and safety messagesat school.At the same time,childrenare potential vehicle for introducing ideas about good practices of health and safety into thefamily.This is another area that conventional risk and emergency planning guidelines are likely tooverlook. The suggestive framework on culture of safety in schools therefore is communicationand engagement with family and safety issues(in the school and at home).

GenderBoth girls and boys are equally vulnerable to any form of hazard/disaster. Therefore, riskassessment and safety plans needs to focus on both boys and girls in involving them equally tounderstand their risk within school and outside. Training school boys and girls on first aid, firesafety,search and rescue should be done by motivating both the groups to participate and sharethe responsibility to built up safer environment in school.

Personswith DisabilitiesDisasters do not discriminate. They affect minorities and majorities; people without and peoplewith disabilities; young and old; men and women. The persons with disabilities are left at theperiphery when it comes to disaster planning and mitigation activities. However, it has beenobserved in many disaster situations that they need specific support to complement their workdue to the challenges they face in moving,hearing,seeing,communicating or learning.Moreover,disasters impact persons with existing disabilities and injuries can create a new generation ofpersons with disabilities.Therefore, the needs of people with disabilities have to be incorporatedin all the policies and programmes throughout the disaster management cycle. This is veryimportant during evacuation.For example,while evacuating a person with physical impairment, itis mandatory to evacuate him/her with his/her supporting equipment such as wheel chair orcrutches.

c.

29

10.Proposed Culture of Safety Indicatorsin Bangladesh

Based on the developed conceptual framework of culture of safety in schools,the research proposes the following indicators.These indicatorscan be used asaschool safety report card which meansby testing these indicatorsschool will beable to see the status of their safety measures. The proposed safety indicatorscan also be included into variousprogramsand projects in education sector.Forexample, the PEDPII target schoolscan be also tested in termsof access,quality,equity, relevance and effectiveness through the school safety report card.Schools can also add or omit indicators based on the local context or existinghazards. In terms of assigning score to the school safety report card, school candecide by themselves.

The proposed indicator for culture of safety in schools can also becomepart of Primary School Quality Level Indicator (PSQL) which will ensure thatthe disaster risk reduction aspects and its impact has been incorporatedinto the policy and programs.

Score.ratingNoYesSchool NameInvestigator NameInspection Date

School Safety Indicator

Table 9 - School Safety Report Card- How Safe isYour School?

Were the school buildingsdesigned to meet the building code standards?

Did (does) the building code provide guidance on hazard resilient design?

`Wasthe soil tested before the school wasbuilt?

Were the builderstrained to apply hazard resilient techniques?

Wasthe school construction supervised by qualified engineers?

The building hasbeen checked by local fire department for fire safetyEarthquake and Cyclone:we have fastened tall and heavy furniture.We have put latcheson cabinets,hung picturessecurely on closedhooksto prevent any possible injuryThere are several crack in the building and the reason isnot known yetwhether due to poor material or impact of earthquakesHave all natural hazardsposing a threat to schoolsbeen identified?(Have all natural hazard risksto the school been identified?)

How often are these risksreassessed?

Do students,teachers,staff and school administration know what to dobefore,during and after ahazard event?

30

Score.ratingNoYesSchool NameInvestigator NameInspection Date

School Safety Indicator

Table 9 - School Safety Report Card- How Safe isYour School?

Has a safe location been identified if the school must be evacuated?Is the evacuation route to the identified evacuation location safe?Do natural hazard events regularly create disruptions in the school calendar?Is there a back-up plan to ensure that school operations continue?Does a disaster management committee exist in the school or the localcommunity?Are school furnishing and equipment designed and installed to minimizepotential harm they might cause to school occupants?Are the school population and local community aware of how they canreduce their disaster vulnerability?Are they actively taking measures to learn their vulnerabilities?Does the school manage to develop surviving life skills among children?Has the school managed to have first aid, fire safety and search equipments?Does the school manage to conduct the safety drill on routine basis?During a hazard event, does the school serve as a shelter?Has it been designed to do so?Does the education continue during emergency?If needed we have planned to provide emergency shelter for our communityWe have planned for education continuity for our students includingalternate location to continue classes, alternate schedule, and methodof instruction as neededAre mechanisms in place to ensure school maintenance is financed andexecuted?Are the school population and the local community aware of the risk? - thiscould go near the vulnerability question aboveIf the location of school is close to the main street or highway or road, didschool manage to advocate for safety zone for children?Does the school manage to bring community, local elite and electedrepresentative together to address the hazard related issues?Does the school manage to deliver the disaster related issues throughcurriculum?Does the school reach out through students to other non-school goingchildren and community in terms of awareness?Has the school identified persons with disabilities and support requiredduring evacuation of PWD?Does the school manage to allocate resources for disaster risk reduction?

Score/rating- 1,2 and 3 (1-very good,2- not good3- needsimprovement)

31

11.RecommendationsThere is no doubt that the education sector plays a huge role in in addressingvarious issues of poverty reduction and sustainable economic development andachieving Education for All (EFA) is one among them.Bangladesh has moved upon development ladder and education sector has been proven as a blessing. Atthe same time,natural disastersare also on the rise and with the climate changescenario, the frequency of disasters will also increase manifold.There have beenseveral intense efforts to mainstream disaster risk reduction into varioussectoralministries which have been impacted tremendously by various disasters such aseducation. It ishigh time to see the linkage between the policy and programsofeducation and disaster risk reduction sector and fine tune the programs andprojects accordingly. Furthermore, schools not only serves the community as acentre for learning and development,but also in crisis times it becomes the onlyresort for people to save their lives in the form of shelter. This learning and lifesaving centre requiresunified approach from both the ministries (education anddisaster management) to develop their resources in carrying out its multipleroles. Bangladesh serves as model country for rest of the world on cyclonepreparedness and there is a scope that it can also become unique in savingmajority of the population (47 per cent of the total population are children) bybringing School Safety into policy and legislation framework. Based on theinvestigation, this research would like to make the following recommendationsto the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME) and Ministry of Foodand Disaster Management (MoFDM):

School Construction Guideline: The research shows that both educationand disaster management sectors have approached the schools differently.There is a need to have a common guideline for both the sectors to addresseducation and impacts of disasters. School safety guidelines can becomposed of safer construction, facilities and outdoor consideration aswell.Construction of primary schools which can also serve the purpose of ashelter requires taking geographical distinctiveness of the country whichincludes floods, cyclone, earthquake, river erosion; fire etc. Constructiondesign has to be different in different locations of the country. Theconstruction guidelines should cover all future school constructions by theMinistry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME) from the national to locallevel.The guideline should set the minimum standard that has to be met byanyone engaged in school construction in Bangladesh. Donor anddevelopment partners may use their own standards and guideline inaddition to and not in replacement of national school constructionguideline.The guidelines should cover the entire construction process fromsite planning,design and maintenance.Assessing School Safety: School safety is the responsibility of manystakeholders-governments, school management, teachers, students, parentsand the community. The disaster preparedness level of a school can beidentified by conducting a school safety audit. An audit can provide thestatusof safety of aschool and identify the areasthat need improvement

a.

b.

32

Safety of school buildings can be assessed by first carrying out a rapid visualsurvey of the buildings. If the survey indicates that further structural analysisis needed, the same will have to be carried out by a qualified and competentstructural engineer. If structural strengthening or retrofitt ing isrecommended, then the same can be taken up by the school management.The structural assessment of the existing situation of primary schools needsto be assessed in termsof resiliency towardsexisting hazards.Schools locatedin coastal or flood plain areas require complete investigation to get anoverview of the present situation which will ultimately help implyingcorrective measures. A school safety audit framework can be introduced tomeasure the strength and weaknessof physical infrastructure.

School safety preparedness should be mandatory: This is one of theimportant elements of culture of safety in schools and it should bemandatory in all schools in Bangladesh. It will help schools in assessing thehazard, vulnerability and risk in and around the school. Natural hazards willalways be the biggest threat wherever the school will be located and at thesame time, human induced hazards are always ignored or overlooked byschool.By introducing school safety preparedness, the schools will be able toforesee the possible consequences of potential threat and can mobilizestudents, teachers and community to reduce the risk.At this moment severalnon-government organizations have facilitated the school safety andpreparedness plan which requires to be integrated with Union EducationOfficer (UEOs) and LGED so that the financing of preparedness can beensured institutionally.This will also address the issue of children's access toeducation following a disaster.School interruption makes milestones such asaccess to education extremely challenging to reach and standards difficult toachieve and enforce. Disasters prematurely end the education for manystudents for several interrelated reasons such as school does not quicklyresume and economic disruption to families forces students to help at homeor join the workforce.

Simulation and mock drills should be mandatory:one of the important waysthat schoolsdevelop response capacity skillsand raise awarenessof the needfor assessment, planning and risk reduction is by conducting regularemergency drills. Drills offer the opportunity to identify training needs,establish new reflexes and teach through action and repetition. School drillsare an important opportunity for student learning, beyond evacuation andother protective behavioursthemselves.

Inclusion of Culture of Safety indicators in PSQL: The propose indicators forculture of safety in schools can become part of the Primary School QualityLevel where facilities, learning and capacity development of teachers andmanagement committee are being discussed. These culture of safetyindicators can also become a School Safety Report Card to assess how safe isthe school and assessment can be done at the school level by themanagement,teachersand studentstogether.

c.

d.

e.

33

12.Way ForwardThis research would like to seek attention from policy makers, developmentpartners, education and disaster management ministries, international non-government organizations, and DRR practitioners to adopt and promote theconcept of culture of safety in schools.The entire aspects of Culture of Safety inSchools in Bangladesh can be seen in two segments to move forward; first-integrating DRR into school curricula and second- safer school construction.Though disaster risk reduction issues have been incorporated into the curriculabut at the same time, there is a need to give more emphasis on pedagogy.Thisrequiresproviding relevant teaching aid to teachers.

Integrating DRR into School Curricula Safer School Construction

At present,DRRis included only into TEXT versionin different grades. But there is need to moveforward to provide teaching aid to teachers sothat they can facilitate the formal curricula.

Every new schoolsbuilt in the country issafe fromnatural hazards

Risk assessments are undertaken of existingschool structures and actions are taken to retrofitthe schoolswhich are situated in high risk areas.Systems are in place for ensuring risk reductionmeasures are incorporated in regularmaintenance of school buildings by LGED andDepartment of Engineering and Education.System in place for training technical staff ofMoPME responsible for school construction onhazard resilient design and constructionNew Guidelinesshould Developed by the Ministryof Primary and Mass Education on integratingDRRinto education.Working closely with the Department of SchoolConstruction in partnership with developmentpartners involved in funding school construction

Guidelinesshould follows the modalitiesof schoolconstruction being practiced in the country (e.g.community built schools, contractor basedconstruction) and provides guidance onintegrating DRR.

The National Teachers Training Institute can takethe lead role into providing regular training to thenewly recruited teachers.Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME)can allocate budget for teachers training,materialdevelopment into their annual budget.

The National Pedagogical department can takethe lead role to work in close partnership withDisaster Management Bureau (DMB).Partnership with development partners involvedin education sector agenda of the country intaking up integration for specific grades.Integration would have budgetary implications-Essential to have political will, buy in from highlevel officials from Ministry of Education- involveDepartment of Planning.Plan in advance of the curriculum revision cycle

Education sector portfolio involves bothGovernment and the private sector, hencedevelop partnership between variousstakeholders

Education sector portfolio involves bothGovernment and the private sector, hencedevelop partnership between variousstakeholders

Link pilot initiatives to larger education sectorprograms

Dialogue with the National Education SectorWorking Groups (UN Agencies,bilateral and multilateral agencies) involved in education sectoragenda of the country

34

13.BibliographyAhmadabad Action Agenda for School Safety 18th - 20th January, 2007 Ahmadabad,India

APIT,2009.Minimizing Education Infrastructure LossesDue to Disaster

Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on School Education and Disaster Risk Reduction 8-10October 2007,Bangkok,Thailand.

Choudhury,Jamilur R.Cyclone shelter and itsmultipurpose use,Bangladesh University ofEngineering and Technology.

CoX, S. & CoX, T. (1991) The structure of employee attitudes to safety - a EuropeanexampleWork and Stress,5,93 - 106.

Damage, Loss and Need Assessment for Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction, WorldBang,2008,Bangladesh.

Guidance note on safer school construction: Global Facility for Disaster Reduction andRecovery,2009.

Guldenmund, F.W.(2000) The nature of safety culture: a review of theory and researchSafety Science,34,215 - 257.

International Conference on School Safety Islamabad,Pakistan,May 14-16,2008.

Karim, Nehal. Cyclonic storm in the coastal areas of Bangladesh: A socio economicimpact,University of Dhaka,Bangladesh

National Plan for Disaster Management 2008-2015 (Final Draft for final approval),Government of Bangladesh,May 2008.

Patel, Marla (2008). Disaster Prevention for Schools: Guidance for education sectordecision makers,consultation version,Geneva.

Regional SynthesisReport on Implementation of the HFA in Asia and Pacific 2007 - 2008/09,United NationsInternational Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR),Bangkok.

Saadi,Shashanka(2006).Safer school meanssafer community,Action Aid Bangladesh

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The Daily Star,29 August 2010

The Daily Star,4th December 2004

Towards a disaster safe school: National guideline for school disaster safety, Ministry ofEducation and National Institute of Education,Sri Lanka

Twigg,J.(2007) Stay Safe:A conceptual framework for school safety

Vickery,D.J(1982).School buildingsand natural disasters,UNESCO.

www.mopme.gov.bd

www.idph.state.ia.us/patient_safety/glossary.asp.

Yule, S. (2003) Safety culture and safety climate: a review of the literature IndustrialPsychology Research centre 1 - 26.