Solan SCERT organises disaster management contest

In a bid to make the students aware about disaster management, a competition was organised by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Solan, for schoolchildren.

As many as 140 entries were received in four categories from District Institutes of Education and Training across the state. The competition saw participation from students of primary, secondary, higher and senior secondary level schools from across the state.

While elaborating upon the competition, Dr Ram Gopal Sharma, Coordinator of Disaster Management Cell, SCERT Solan, said under the School Safety Project, entries were sought by the respective DIET from primary, secondary, higher and senior secondary in the first phase of the competition.

Three shortlisted entries were invited to SCERT for the subsequent phase.

Budgetary assistance was granted to the SCERT, designated as the nodal agency for School Safety Project, by the Revenue Department for this competition.

“The school disaster management plan is an integral part of school education. All schools are mandated to prepare and upload it on the School Safety App,” added Dr Sharma.

A state-level high evaluation committee was constituted under the chairmanship of SCERT Principal Prof Hemant Kumar. The committee comprises experienced experts from State Disaster Management Authority, District Disaster Management Authority and Education Department.

In the state-level competition, in the primary school category, Government Primary School (GPS), Shilli (Shimla district), emerged as the winner, while GPCS, Thoru Sandoli (Bilaspur district), stood second and GPS Ghaniara (Girls) from Kangra district bagged the third prize.

In the middle school category, Government Middle School (GMS), Nehli (Sirmaur district), stood first, while GMS, Hardaspura (Chamba district) was second, and GMS, Chandpur (Una district), was placed third.

In the high school category, Government High School (GHS), Panyali (Hamirpur district) stood first, while GHS, Chamat Bharech (Solan district), stood second and GHS, Choltu (Kinnaur district) secured the third spot.

In the senior secondary category, Government Senior Secondary School, Baldowa (Kangra district) emerged the winner, while GSSS, Barmana (Bilaspur district) and GSSS, Barshaini (Kullu district), stood second and third, respectively.

Cash prizes worth Rs 10,000, 7,500 and 5,000 would be granted to the schools who secured the first, second and third places, respectively.

The SCERT Principal said being the nodal agency for School Safety Project, they were seriously working on teaching-training in disaster management in collaboration with State Disaster Management Authority.