Photo credits: CEE Himalaya

Throughout April 2018, CEE Himalaya and RCE Srinagar, with financial support from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Give2Asia, organised four teacher training workshops (TTW) on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) preparedness for the teachers of the Jarwal Block, situated in the Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh.

Teachers across the district – which is highly prone to floods each year – actively participated in the workshops, which consisted of presentations, activities and lectures. The TTW, divided into three sessions, focused on educating teachers on disasters and giving training on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) preparedness in schools and in villages.

A focus of one of the sessions was the role of teachers and schools in achieving a disaster resilient, climate-smart and sustainable community. Participants were educated on various natural hazards, what to do before, during, and after a disaster, the national and Uttar Pradesh state disaster management acts, and the Sendai Framework for DRR. As floods are the most common disaster in the area, teachers were briefed on how to prepare for floods in order to minimise the loss of property and lives.

Another session focused on training teachers to create and submit school disaster management plans (SDMPs) and village contingency plans (VCPs), with the latter involving those from the village, especially youth.

A final session centred on the discussion of water, sanitation & hygiene (WASH) issues, such as health problems due to the limited availability of clean water as a result of contamination. Teachers were educated on the benefits of proper sanitation and maintaining good hygiene in schools, homes and villages.

Feedback on the workshops was very positive, with teachers finding them both interesting and helpful, with more requested in the future. In particular, there was keen interest on learning about the procedures for creating SDMPs and VCPs.

This project, originally proposed for 35 schools and 20 villages in the Jarwal Block, has now been extended by CEE, with the aim to reach all 234 government primary schools in the Jarwal Block, with further plans to bring it to all districts within Uttar Pradesh and beyond.