Chennai
The mock drill that claimed the life of a young college student was organised in violation of a series of guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), which, if followed, could have prevented the girl’s death on Thursday.
The NDMA guidelines for conducting a disaster-preparedness mock drill in educational institutions states that such a drill requires permission of the district collector and should only be undertaken by trained professionals from State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) or National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and not by any private entity.
After the death of a 19-year-old college student during a disaster management training programme at a college in Coimbatore which went horribly wrong, the state government has tightened the guidelines for educational institutions wishing to conduct mock drills for disaster preparedness.
However, disaster management experts pointed out that there already exists a guideline by the NDMA mandating that such programmes – especially the practical/ demonstration aspect of the training – should only be done by trained professionals and not students.
GP Ganapathy, associate professor and director, Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management, VIT University, said that according to guidelines, the demonstration should be done only by SDRF or NDRF or the local Fire and Rescue Service personnel.
“We have conducted several mock drills. I reached out to the NDRF office in New Delhi, which sanctions the local battalion to conduct this drill, each time,” he said. The academician also pointed out that there is a standard operating procedure for such drills.
“Before the drills, there is a pre-mock drill briefing with table-top discussion on the strategy to be demonstrated. Only after this will the demonstration take place.
The mock drills don’t involve the students but are demonstrated by a trained professional,” added Ganapathy, underlining the fact that mock drills should only be conducted by trained rescue services or military personnel. This was confirmed by State Revenue Minister RB Udayakumar, who said that educational institutions should conduct such drills only after getting permission from the Collector or district administration and that too, only with trained professionals.
In this case, the Coimbatore college has violated several guidelines.
“Initial investigation reveals that the educational institution in Coimbatore conducted the drill without proper approvals. In addition, the video shows students holding the net, which is dangerous, as students are not experts.
All practical training should only be done with the help of trained officials not students. This is shocking. We have directed all district collectors to tighten the guidelines and stringently follow it up,” said the minister.
No mechanism to monitor activities of edu institutions
The death of the college girl during the reckless mock drill has raised several questions, including about the lack of a proper mechanism to monitor activities in educational institutions.
Until the girl’s death hogged headlines, the Education Department was unaware of the event being held at the college. “There was no intimation from the college on the mock drill. Government and aided institutions take our permission, but self-financing colleges do not inform us,” said S Kala, Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education. On Friday, a team of officials from Education Department held inquiry and verified the genuineness of Arumugam’s education and experience certificates.
“A detailed report would be sent to the Directorate of Collegiate Education,” she said. A recommendation would also be send seeking to make it compulsory for private colleges to inform the department while holding such events. Another concern was the absence of any safety fear or norms. “It is not correct to make participants jump from such a height. It could turn fatal, as students standing with a net down may not be able to bear the weight of the falling person. Instead, only a ladder or a chair tied to a rope should be used to bring down trapped persons,” said a senior fire safety officer.
Drills are optional, says Education Department
The State Education Department on Friday distanced itself from the disaster management drill in which a student died, stating that such drills are merely optional and government has not made them mandatory. Meanwhile, academicians and educationists said the mishap exposed the gross violation of norms and lethargy of the college.
“There is no rule that it is mandatory for schools or colleges to conduct such drills. As per rule laid down by the Revenue Department, students should not be put through tedious assignments during the drill,” a top official of the Education Department said. According to him, while conducting any mock exercise, the school or college authorities should ensure that no one, including staff members, should sustain even a minor injury. “Many private institutions, especially colleges, commit the blunder of appointing private agencies to conduct disaster management drills and also engage students in it,” said an academician. They should be strictly warned against it, he added. Director of Anna University’s Centre for Disaster Mitigation, Dr D Thirumalaivasan told DT Next that the institutions should involve experts authorised by the government for conducting any mock drill –including firefighting exercises.
“We conduct mock drills regularly with help of professionally trained people. If it is firefighting drill, officials from Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Service will be available to guide the students”, he said. Thirumalaivasan said students should not be forced to participate in any drill and that too, without any precautionary measures.
“The video of the Coimbatore incident shows the girl resisting from jumping. However, she was forced. This is a clear violation,” he added. He also pointed out that rescue operations should be demonstrated by the professionals, who always use ladder to save people stuck on any floor. “I have never seen a trainer like this,” he said. RS Kumar, principal of Agni College of Technology, said his college conducted disaster management training once every year with qualified persons. “Even if the girl had fallen safely, the quality of the net, which was held by the students on the ground floor, should be taken into consideration,” he pointed out. Stating every student’s life is precious, Kumar said, “At least from now, every college should seriously adopt safety measures while conducting any disaster management exercise.”
Strongly condemning the Coimbatore incident, Tamil Nadu State Platform for Common School System (SPCSC) added that strict action should be taken against the violators. “The violation is very serious. We cannot allow this to happen again. Strict norms should be adopted during these type of drills in the college or school campuses,” general secretary SPCSC, P B Prince Gajendra Babu said.
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