Mr James Obeng, Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Coordinator for the National Disaster and Management Organization (NADMO), has called for the inclusion of safety education in the school curriculum.
This, he noted, would help improve the level of knowledge and awareness of safety among citizens.
He said many children in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis lacked the basic knowledge in safety to either sense or detect danger in their environment and how to avoid it.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on this year’s International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) commemoration, he expressed concern about the increasing cases of kidnaps in the Metropolis as well as the numerous accidents, which could be averted if citizens had basic knowledge in safety.
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“From my research, no one can buy security. Per our experience in Sekondi-Takoradi and the whole of Ghana, a lot of people lacked knowledge in safety. The kidnaps and many accidents we have experienced could be averted in the Metropolis if victims had safety backgrounds.
I believe safety should be introduced as a non-scoring course that will be taught at all levels of the educational system to prepare citizens for all forms of dangers or threats in real life,” he said.
He, therefore, called on the GES to consider introducing safety in the school curriculum to create safety awareness among citizens to avert kidnaps and other safety-related incidents and advocated basic safety be taught at the basic level while advanced safety also was taught at the higher level.
Mr Obeng also described it as a worrying situation in the Metropolis where children lacked basic knowledge in practical safety in their household and on the streets.
He observed that safety education could easily correct such a deficiency for the effective protection of children.
“It’s a worrying situation where children can misplace their belongings in a commercial car yet they cannot recognize either the vehicle’s registration number or colour also children should know when to pass through the rains and when to sense danger.
When gas is on, children must recognize that using a phone around it is not advisable, furthermore when someone knocks at your door, the child has to allow an adult to open,” he stressed.
