Speakers at a seminar Wednesday underlined the need for introducing disaster-related education into the national curriculum to reduce the risk and losses in natural calamities, reports agency.

The knowledge of disaster risk reduction provides rudimentary information, concepts, skills and capacities for early preparedness, survival during disasters and swift post- disaster recovery, they said.

The two-day seminar titled ‘Disaster and Education’ was jointly organized by Advancing Public Interest Trust (APIT) and weekly magazine Shaptahik with the support of ActionAid at the Chhayanaut Sanskriti Bhaban.

Two sessions on the first day were chaired by former vice chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Moniruzzaman Miah and Prof Mehedi Ahmed Ansary of the Department of Civil Engineering of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

Former director general of NAEM M Anwarul Huque presented a paper on ‘Disaster Reinforces Education’ while renowned writer Selina Hossain took part in the discussion on ‘Literature and Disaster’.

The seminar was moderated by leader of the humanitarian response team of UNDP Shashanka Saadi, while Maliha Shahjahan of APIT presented two separate papers on disaster and education. Prof Moniruzzaman said providing practical education is a must to reduce the losses due to disasters.

“We have to face disasters in our own way considering the available resources and economic and cultural condition of the country,” he said.

Selina said education and disaster need to be prioritized in the same manner. Disaster education should be designed in a life- oriented way so people of the grassroots could adapt it easily.

Anwarul said imparting disaster education at all levels of education including in the non-formal sector must be ensured to build a sustainable environment knowledge based society in the country. Maliha, in her keynote paper, said in many countries like Mexico, Romania, and New Zealand, teaching of disaster-related subjects is made mandatory by the respective governments.

In Bangladesh, national efforts to provide disaster risk reduction education is encouraged but progress is sill at an infantile stage. “Learners should start learning disaster preparedness at a very early age with the perception of disaster mitigation from both social and natural environment aspects,” she said.

The curriculum should also train children to recognize disaster warnings, to rescue and treat the injured and to help people to get into shelters safely. She also suggested introduction of disaster related comprehensive courses at high schools as elective subjects.

The initiative should engage schools in formulating school- level disaster management plans, organizing earthquake and fire drills as well as pursuing vulnerability analysis with the involvement of community members.

A good number of education and disaster experts, representatives of non-government oganisations and donor agencies took part at the seminar.