Include disaster preparedness in the elementary and high school curriculum to better prepare students against calamities.
Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama asked this of the Department of Education (DepEd)-Cebu City Division, the city’s Local School Board and the City Council’s committee on education.
Aside from students, the mayor also plans to include women and persons with disability on disaster training. “(They) should not be looked at as victims, but as contributors,” he said.
The mayor said that education authorities must be serious in their efforts on the matter, so that students would be equipped on prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response.
Rama attended the United Nations World Conference on disaster risk reduction in Japan where it was emphasized that not all parents had the chance to get an education so it is better to focus on the children. In Japan, children or students lead their elders to the evacuation centers and Rama hopes to replicate this.