There’s need to train public how to respond when disaster strikes
What you need to know:
- According to student leaders from Kenyatta University, Maseno University, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Moi University and Garissa University College, university students have been taken through few drills to train them on what to do when faced with danger while in a building.
- It is instructive that the government starts with churches, then public transport vehicles and later academic institutions.
That the country is in panic mode due to frequent terrorist attacks cannot be gainsaid.
This explains why, since the Garissa University College terrorist attack that claimed 148 lives, most university students panic whenever something out of the ordinary occurs.
Students scamper and suffer injuries as they try to flee.
Cases in point are some Kenyatta University students who were injured as they scampered out of a library following what they suspected to be a terrorist attack.
Some had to jump out of windows from upper floors. One student died while 167 were injured as they attempted to run out of a hostel at the University of Nairobi’s Kikuyu campus.
Some students, having been awakened by a noise from a faulty power cable, jumped from the building’s upper floors.
In the wake of these happenings, it has emerged that our universities are very poor in preparing learners for emergencies.
FEW DRILLS
According to student leaders from Kenyatta University, Maseno University, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Moi University and Garissa University College, university students have been taken through few drills to train them on what to do when faced with danger while in a building.
According to Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru, her ministry will hold consultations with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on whether youths should acquire paramilitary training before they join public universities.
This will be a move in the right direction if it will be implemented.
This is because respective university students will be trained in self defence.
However, this is not enough. This is because we do not know where terrorists will strike next.
It is instructive that the government starts with churches, then public transport vehicles and later academic institutions.
May be next time, al-Shabaab will target schools like their counterparts Boko Haram in Nigeria.
It is for this reason that all Kenyans need some education on how to respond to emergencies.
Indeed, seminars should be held in all schools, churches and other public places where people gather to educate all Kenyans on how to respond to tragedies.
Kimani wa Njuguna,
Gatundu South.
