Disaster Risk Reduction in School Curricula: Case Studies ... - Unicef

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Eastern and Southern Africa
Boys laugh as they perform an exercise
in a pre-school class in Soavinandriana
District, Itasy Region of Madagascar.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-1243/Pirozzi
is a cross-cutting element integrated into all disciplines. The
ever more proximate threat of climate change has served to
strengthen the environmental dimension of the curriculum
while sharpening the urgency to build a praxis-orientation into
learning 56 . The emphasis on environmental awareness has
very much informed DRR curriculum developments.
At the primary level a DRR handbook for grade 4 and 5 students
and accompanying teachers’ manual became available in
October 2006, both outcomes of the I Protect My Country from
Natural Disasters project. Launched conjointly by the Ministry
of National Education (MoNE) and the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MoHA), they were both entitled I Protect My Country Against
Natural Disasters. The students’ handbook (MoNE/MoHA,
2006a) treats natural hazards in Madagascar: cyclones, earthquakes
and volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, fires and malnutrition.
Offering explanations and advice on what to do when confronting
a hazard, and illustrated with attractive pictures, the book
calls upon students to ‘communicate what you know on (the)
natural disasters to members of your society’ (Ibid. 40). The
teachers’ guide (MoNE/MoHA, 2006b) covers the same six
themes guiding the teacher on how to use the student handbook
in the classroom. There is no specific guidance offered
on pedagogical possibilities, the presumption seeming to
be that a text-led approach will be employed.
DRR is also currently treated in grade 6 and in a range of subjects
in grade 7.
In grade 6 DRR is embedded in the Science and Technology
curriculum in a two-month unit on the management of water
within which students explore water-related catastrophes such
as floods, cyclones and drought. The Direction of Curriculum
within the Ministry of National Education launched the new
curriculum in 2008.
In grade 7 DRR learning is reinforced across three learning
programmes launched by the Direction of Curriculum in 2009:
French, Science and Technology, and Mathematics.
In the grade 7 French curriculum, environmental awareness
is one of six themes (18 hours of teaching) on topics such as
brush fires, recycling of rubbish, new sources of energy,
climate change, deforestation and the threat to indigenous
species. In addressing each topic students practice: making
oral presentations on environmental protection (e.g., discussing
the consequences of deforestation, explaining the importance
of plants for health); making others aware of environmental
protection (e.g., advising peers not to harm wild animals;
informing peers of the importance of protecting turtles); understanding
messages on environmental protection (e.g. , Internet
searches, reading articles on brush fires, finding out how solar
heating works); producing written material on environmental
protection (e.g., environmental poems, essays, posters)
(MoNE, 2009).
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Jacky Roland Randimbiarison, UNICEF Madagascar, to Fumiyo Kagawa,
14 November 2011 (following consultations with partners).
Disaster Risk Reduction in School Curricula: Case Studies from Thirty Countries