Red Cross trains 600 Midlands teachers in disaster risk management

Gweru (New Ziana) -The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) has trained more than 600 teachers in the Midlands province in disaster risk management and first aid as part of efforts to mitigate and efficiently handle calamities.

Speaking during the graduation ceremony for the teachers, Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution permanent secretary Abiot Maronge said the training would strengthen disaster risk management responses at community level.

“The teachers will cascade disaster risk management awareness to colleagues, community and students thereby strengthening response against disasters” he said.

“This training is in line with the devolution agenda as it empowers communities and schools to cope with disasters instead of always looking upwards in case of disasters.”

Maronge said learners had been victims of floods and other natural disasters for a long time and many of the deaths that had occurred could have been prevented.

He said every rainy season their offices were inundated with calls from people who would have encountered disasters and from their requests, very little would have been done at the local level to prevent or mitigate the effects.

With the training, he said, communities would play a more active role in mitigating disasters by having functional risk management committees starting at school level.

“Previously, action or intervention was externalised and expected to come from the top, the district development coordinators and district schools inspectors but through this effort, action will come from schools through their institutional disaster risk management plans and committees,” he said, adding the training was expected to reach all the schools in the province.

Apart from natural disasters, the teachers were also taught to deal with drug and sexual abuse, which have also proved to be disasters.

Speaking at the same occasion, ZRCS communications and corporate affairs manager Stambuli Kim said the training would make teachers the first responders when emergencies or accidents occurred in communities.

He said loss of lives in accidents and disasters was not primarily due to gravity of the incidents but the absence of someone to provide basic first aid.

“Skills learnt are vital for creating a conducive and better learning environment as teachers will be first responders and able to administer first aid at sport events and when accidents occur with potential to save lives,” he said.

Kim said the teacher training program had started in the Midlands and would be replicated in other provinces.

Provincial education director Jameson Machimbira said teachers had a delicate task of looking after learners, therefore disaster risk management training was pertinent.

He noted that the Midlands province had 1 024 primary and secondary schools with about 500 000 learners and 15 000 teachers.

New Ziana