Education Ministry Forms a National Risk Management Team

Education Ministry Forms a National Risk Management Team
Santo Domingo,Dominican Republic,12/06/12

With the goal of insuring that all of the nation’s schools are prepared and can respond quickly to any emergency situation or disaster, the Ministry of Education (MINERD in Spanish) created the National Risk Management Team, which will facilitate the formation of risk management committees in schools.

The workshop was facilitated by Miguelina Tactuk, a consultant of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), who indicated that MINERD is working on a strategy for introducing risk management activities into schools.

Regional technicians will also monitor and validate progress made in developing school response plans.

MINERD’s overriding objective is to protect the lives of students and all of the people who are part of the educational community in the case of an emergency, and insure the right to education before, during and after any event occurs.

The National Risk Management Team, whose members include technicians from the 18 Education Regions, was trained during a three-day workshop organized by MINERD’s Risk Management Program, directed by its coordinator Milagros Yost.

The workshop was facilitated by Miguelina Tactuk, a consultant of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), who indicated that MINERD is working on a strategy for introducing risk management activities into schools.

“The goal is to have all schools prepared to identify any risks, vulnerabilities, response capacities, and scenarios that could occur on school premises,so that the entire educational community is prepared,” explained Tactuk.  The consultant indicated that the training process will also address how to integrate the creation of evacuation, first aid, firefighting and damage assessment brigades into school plans.

“What we want to do is make sure that schools become first responders.  We are considering the worst kind of scenario, like a high magnitude seismic event, in which the school cannot await the arrival of Civil Defense or firefighters.  The school must be capable of responding, in order to save the lives of the children it is responsible for,” she stressed.

She also indicated that regional technical staff is responsible for developing an entire national strategy for working simultaneously.  Training is based on the guidelines contained in Law 147-02, Risk Management in the Dominican Republic, which defines preparedness, response and recovery guidelines and procedures.

The methodological guide for developing school risk management plans and its workbook were used as a tool in the development of this strategy, along with the corresponding exercises.

Nora Pieter, an infrastructure specialist, and Adeidania Florentino and Nelson Salas, national technicians of MINERD who are part of the Risk Management Program, helped to organize the workshop.

Technical staff participating in the workshop organized by MINERD’s Risk Management Program, during which its National Risk Management Team was created

Guides and workbooks used in the training