Mob lynching and selfie deaths are man-made disasters, according to a Gujarat textbook that is intended to cultivate awareness on disaster management among school children. The textbook carrying such an argument is soon to be implemented in about 55,000 schools across Gujarat.
The program that would be run across the schools would tell children which places were safe and which were dangerous as far as taking selfies were concerned, why it was important to not forward unconfirmed WhatsApp messages that have been known to lead to lynching etc.
The disaster management awareness program was earlier limited to teaching students about natural calamities like cyclones, earthquakes, floods etc and making them aware as to the safety steps that are needed to protect oneself from them.
This is the first time that schools are dealing with themes as contemporary and controversial as selfie deaths and lynching. The CEO and coordinator of the programme asserted that these contemporary issues were being added to the syllabus because there was a growing trend of taking dangerous selfies and forwarding unverified WhatsApp messages and such knowledge would help out both parents and children.
The school safety programme intends to improve levels of disaster preparedness and reduce risks through structural and non-structural measures. But really, lynching and selfies are just man-made disasters?
