AWARENESS OF SCHOOL SAFETY PROGRAMME AMONG STUDENTS OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

Himachal Pradesh is a hilly state prone to multi hazards including earthquake. It falls in high to very high seismic risk zones. Schools of the State are highly vulnerable. The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Himachal Pradesh is implementing school safety programme in order to reduce the disaster risk. In this study impact of school safety programme was evaluated. A structured tool has been employed to assess the student's awareness level. Student's responses have also been evaluated by awarding 5 marks for correct responses and zero marks for incorrect responses. Data interpretations revealed that students have poor understanding of the concepts of earthquake, landslide, cloud burst, flash floods and mock drills. They have also limited knowledge about the safety measures to be taken for these natural hazards. Summary statistics revealed that the minimum, maximum, median, mean, first quartile and third quartile student's scores are 10, 85, 35, 42.93, 30, and 55 respectively. Out of 1200 responding students 34.92% scored less than 35% marks, 47.58% got 35-74% marks and 17.7% scored 75% and above score.