The Ministry of Education and the National Office for Seismic Assessment and Vulnerability of Infrastructure and Buildings (onesvie), agreed to initiate a correction process in about 250 schools located near the seismic fault of the northern zone of the country.
By offering the information, the minister angel hernandezexplained that models have been developed to reinforce the schools and the Minerd will finance the works that are carried out.
“It is obvious that our region is affected by many earthquakes and as a result of the work they have done in onesviewe have a diagnosis of all the weaknesses that the schools of our country along the entire northern fault and where a major earthquake could occur in the coming years,” he said.
The official said that from there it was decided to initiate a policy of reinforcing all schools that have shown certain levels of weakness, to prevent children and their communities from being affected in the future by a catastrophic event.
The program that will run the onesviedirected by Leonardo Reyes Madera, will start in the next few days in those 250 schools and it could be extended to other educational centers located in vulnerable places.
Hernández spoke during the opening ceremony of the Second Forum of Safe Schools of the SICA Region (Central American Integration System), where he affirmed that in order to guarantee effective school security, it must include in its approach the social and community environment of the children and adolescents who attend the educational center, as well as the eventual risks of natural phenomena.
When proposing a comprehensive approach to school safety, Minister Hernández maintained that the different aspects that move in relation to said concept should be included, starting at home, observing what happens in them and violence in society, since It impacts in one way or another the educational centers and the children in particular.
“The fundamental interest of this forum is focused on environmental phenomena that directly affect educational centers, which warrants comprehensive action in pursuit of a broad vision of the environmental phenomenon and how it affects the safety of children, and, above all, the guarantee that they can attend schools in optimal conditions”Minister Hernández explained.
In this regard, he raised the need to implement a roadmap that allows focusing concrete and clear policies on what to do in the future in relation to environmental issues and that are incorporated into security not derived from environmental phenomena, but from social ones, Without a doubt, they are the ones that most frequently impact the safety of children and adolescents in educational centers.
The event, which this year has the Dominican Republic as the host country due to its status as Pro Tempore president of the organization, aims to identify gaps and opportunities for policies, strategies and plans to reduce risks and increase the resilience of the educational community.
Proposals for resilient schools
Roberto Suarezexecutive secretary of CECC-SICA, said that it is a fundamental task to guarantee that the entire school environment is a benchmark in which the physical and socio-emotional well-being of children, young people and adults provides greater confidence and allows them to feel at home. safe and conducive environment to carry out their learning tasks.
Suárez pointed out that given the region’s vulnerability, it is necessary to take urgent action, since recent history shows that many schools have been affected after a natural disaster, so the joint and continuous work of all the actors in society can contribute to the impact of disasters.
“We have to get more and more involved, so that we can play a good role in order to achieve the objectives of reducing disaster risks, which must also include knowledge and school activities on this subject,” Suárez said.
Secondly, Saskia Carousi, representative of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and representative of Unicef, urged to work towards school safety and take actions to develop it, so that they give a guideline from which the risks of disasters and avoid the creation of new risks to, in turn, reduce the existing ones, as well as strengthen resilience.
He affirmed that the tools and the approach in the comprehensive framework of school safety must be relevant to guide children on the issue of well-being in these spaces. He added that it is important to highlight that these actions are a joint effort between the Ministry of Education and risk reduction and comprehensive risk management entities, and in this case the Civil Defense of the Dominican Republic.
Likewise, Claudia Herreraexecutive secretary of the Coordination Center for the Prevention of Natural Disasters in Central America, highlighted the strategic impulse developed by the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, within the framework of the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Central American Integration System and, at Minister Ángel Hernández, who has promoted strategic actions for security in the schools.
“Our region is increasingly exposed to weather events, solely due to our geographic location, which negatively affects our development processes, so taking this type of joint action strengthens compliance with the Regional Strategic Agenda, which is posed by the Central American Integration System,” said Suárez.
He affirmed that the central objective of the policy of the entity to which he belongs, establishes bequeathing to future generations a safe and resilient territory, therefore defining a roadmap and a joint declaration in which he ratifies that commitment and that urgent action to achieve the development objectives that governments have set themselves.
