Chennai: In an attempt to prepare school
students to tackle any disaster situation that arises in the
country, the Ministry of Home Affairs is planning to raise
National Civil Defence Corps for school children from the next
academic year.
"We are planning a pilot project along with the National
Disaster Management Authority involving 100 schools initially
handpicked by us. Chennai will probably have two schools. This
will start from the next academic year," G S Saini, Director
of the Nagpur-based National Civil Defence College said.
"There is a need to educate school children on the
situations that arise at the time we least expect and this is
an attempt aimed at that," he said.
The pilot project, planned at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore, will
facilitate a one master trainer from each school to undergo
training at the National Civil Defence College at Nagpur and
later impart training to students in his/her school, he said.
Asked how the project was different from the already
existing National Cadet Corps (NCC) functioning under the
Defence Ministry, Saini said the new project would train
students in facing disasters, while NCC primarily imparted
military training.
National Civil Defence College under the Ministry of Home
Affairs trains central police forces such as Indo-Tibetan
Border Police, Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security
Force and Central Industrial Security Force prepare their
personnel for National Disaster Response Force.
PTI
