Civil defence in the schools

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32462, 24 November 1970, Page 14

Civil defence in the schools

Young people, who are usually eager to contribute to the shaping of the community, should have every opportunity to equip themselves to serve to the best of their ability their own and their community’s interests. Failure to enable them to identify their activities and concerns with those of the community in which they live would be a failure of education. Last week the principal and senior assistant mistress of Ashburton College explained to the conference of South Island civil defence controllers an experiment in their school in instructing girls how to deal with emergencies under the broad heading of “ civil “ defence training ”. It began as a programme to occupy girls usefully at the school while boys were engaged in military cadet training. It now looks as if the school might adopt a civil defence course as a substitute for cadet training.

Emergency feeding, hygiene and sanitation, temporary housing and clothing, communications, fire-fighting, first-aid—all these might be regarded as useful subjects for general instruction outside the more formal framework of the civil defence organisation. Some might say that they do not belong in a school curriculum at all. Indeed, if knowledge and experience of these things were generally acquired elsewhere there would be little reason for finding a comer for them in a curriculum that is already crowded. Some schools, such as Ashburton College, have found a convenient and rewarding place for them; more important, these schools are fostering in their pupils a quality of citizenship that must create a valuable link between the school and the world outside.

During and after the severe flooding in the Nelson district last winter the Civil Defence Organisation was impressed by the enthusiasm and competence of many young people who joined in the efforts to deal with the emergency. This spirit of co-operation is nothing new: but it often remains latent for want of opportunity. Especially in large communities, it should be mobilised for a common purpose so that individuals know that their enthusiasm and effort are needed. The civil defence authorities and the schools have much to gain from co-operation on the lines of the Ashburton College experiment. If it did no more than make civil defence procedures better known it would be well worth while. It could hardly fail to add to the effectiveness of these procedures.