60 MODEL SCHOOLS TO HELP MAKE PUNE ASAFE KIDS AT HOME CITY
- Safe Kids at Home curriculum on fire safety awareness recommended for nationwide fire and evacuation drills on January 21
PUNE, January 21, 2017: In its endeavor to make Pune a model safe city, Safe Kids Foundation (SKF) has identified 60 government schools across four Pune Municipal Corporation zones as model safe schools. Besides adopting the Safe Kids at Home curriculum, these schools will offer extensive fire safety training to students, teachers, support staff, and parents. These schools will have the right equipment and signage to deal with fire emergencies.
SKF has already been conducting fire drills across the city with the Pune Fire Department in the run up to the Indian government’s National Fire and Evacuation Drills in Schools Day on January 21.
Mr. Prashant Ranpise, Chief Fire Officer, Pune Fire Department said, “As per central government norms, we conducted fire drills in a large number of schools today. Disaster preparedness is mandatory for schools; and mock drills equip people to deal with fire incidents in the best possible way. The fire safety training materials prepared by Safe Kids Foundation help kids understand safety issues more easily.”
Dr. Cinthia Pinto, Program Director, Safe Kids Foundation, said, “Safe Kids at Home has already reached out to 150,000 students from 430 schools and 115,000 parents from 156 localities. By creating model safe schools, we are not only raising awareness but also preparedness across the city. For the first time ever, we’re taking this program beyond schools to slums, which are most vulnerable to fire disasters.
Mr. Vikas Chadha, President, Honeywell India, said, “I want to sincerely thank Shri D.K. Shami, chief fire adviser to the Government of India for acknowledging the outstanding Safe Kids at Home training material.” Shri Shami has recommended the Safe Kids at Home curriculum for use by fire departments across 36 states and union territories in the country. “This is a huge endorsement for the program. We invested a lot of time and effort in building a research-backed curriculum which helps children learn fire safety in fun and exciting ways,” Vikas added.
Safe Kids at Home helps prevent burns and scalds among children under 14 years old in Pune. Supported by a Honeywell India grant and implemented by Safe Kids Foundation, the program deploys cutting-edge, experiential, and fun educational tools targeted at different age groups to reach 325,000 children and 175,000 parents by 2018.
