Philippines: Disaster preparedness now integrated in school curriculum in Eastern Visayas

Tacloban City, Leyte - The Department of Education (DepEd) has integrated disaster preparedness into the school curriculum in Eastern Visayas.

The acquired knowledge and skills are expected to lessen the impact of disasters that may strike in high-risk areas in the region.

Rey Goson, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) regional director, said the education sector play an important role in the prevention and mitigation of hazards from becoming a disaster and that teaching disaster preparedness to schoolchildren is a step in disaster risk reduction (DRR).

Gozon added that DepEd included disaster preparedness in the curriculum of public schools after the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Act of 2010 took effect.

DepEd sent teachers and administrators to undergo training to mainstream disaster risk reduction (DRR) and management, Gozon said.

Eastern Visayas is one of the regions in the country rated as high-risk in terms of geophysical hazards, particularly flooding, earthquakes and landslides.

In the curriculum preparations undertaken by DepEd, the wise use of natural resources was integrated in the Makabayan (Social Studies) class in Grade 6 on while climate change, waste segregation and pollution and its consequent effects are integrated in the Science class in Grade 7.

Another approach is the preparation of modules in disaster preparedness used in Alternative Learning System (ALS) and the expansion of the focus of the Citizen Army training (CAT) for high school seniors on civic work, community service and law enforcement training.

Meanwhile, Gozon said the office will continuously conduct quarterly earthquake and fire drills in schools to educate schoolchildren on the hazards and responses during its occurrence. (AJC/EPT/PIA-8)