Bomb threats in school - what should the management do?
Posted on: 09/Jan/2016 12:36:49 PM
Recently, there was a bomb threat in couple of schools in Chennai. Such incidents happen often and create panic. How should the school management react to it and handle such situations?
The recent bomb threat was for schools functioning on East Coast Road in Chennai. This terrified all the schools and many bomb squads and policemen were involved in detecting bombs in these schools. The school management, not knowing what to do, sent all their children out of the school. Hearing the condition, parents of these kids were rushing to the spot to save their respective child.
After sometime, the situation settled down and we all realized this to be a mere threat and there was no bomb at all.
At such a situation, being in the shoes of these children, what will they do to contact their parents? They neither have money to get back home nor a mobile phone to communicate with their parents.
While parents kept calling the school authorities, all that they received was the Beep of the telephone and nothing else. Those who visited the school directly were left unattended due to lack of enough staff members.
Emergency preparedness - how many schools teach their children about this? Not many, in fact not any. None of the teachers are aware of Evacuation procedure. Parents fail to understand that their children are studying in schools that are prone to such threats and mishaps wherein enough preventive measures are not taken by the government either.
What should we do in case of an earthquake? How to protect when there is a fire outburst? What if there is a terrorist attack in the school? How to get out of the school and reach a safer place and what are the first aids to be given? How to safeguard friends and others around you? None of these is taught to the students. Parents are fully focused only on getting their children the knowledge printed on textbooks.
These safety precautionary measures are not taken even in schools that collect lakhs of money in the name of donation. Rather than teaching them with ancient literature that leaves the kids yawning, it is better to impart such knowledge about emergency management.
If an unknown individual is capable of creating such a situation just by spending one single rupee, the sole reason is our ignorance. Our society lags in having enough knowledge, possessing only the content of textbooks.
Teach them with Drop Cover Hold method in case of earthquake, method to operate a fire extinguisher in case of fire outburst, way to escape through fire exit, way to assemble at assembly point, method to manage crisis situation, importance of Evacuation Drill, First aid procedures, ways in which they can be of help to each other at such emergency times, and lot more.
A society that is not ready to learn and hone itself with the changing situation will only travel in the path of risk.
