Soon, bomb threat, campus shooting among subjects in colleges

LUCKNOW: Now university students will compulsorily be taught lessons on bomb threat, campus shooting, terrorist incidents and a lot more. The affiliated colleges were also asked for inclusion of this course in their curriculum.

This is in accordance with the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) guidelines on ‘safety of students on and off campuses of higher educational institutional’ aimed to prepare students for disaster management. The UGC has written to all universities asking them to start courses on disaster management and financial emergencies. Every university in the country will be required to offer these courses, the commission’s letter says.

“Educational administrators across the country are also requested to ensure that students are protected from attacks, threats and accidents,” reads the letter sent to all vice chancellors by PK Thakur, secretary, UGC.

“The students will be trained on how they should quickly move out in case of an earthquake, explosion or spill/ release of hazardous material so that causalities could be minimised. Preparation is key to saving precious lives or minimising the possible losses, if a disaster strikes,” the UGC said.

The Government of India is giving high priority to making students aware of disaster management in higher educational institutions. Planning for natural disasters and emergencies is something every educational institution must consider.

Hence, all universities have been asked to consider compulsory courses on disaster management for all students that shall include lessons on bomb threat, earthquake, explosion, hazardous material spill/ release, campus shooting, terrorist incidents and financial emergency such as unexpected loss of income, death in the family or other family emergency and risk of eviction and natural disaster.

This is not the first time the UGC has focused on student safety. It had notified guidelines on ‘Safety of Students on and off Campuses of Higher Educational Institutions’ in 2015.