Mayeda Rashid (right) with her best friend in primary school in Bangladesh.
Stepping into a classroom that had been destroyed by severe flooding was not a surprise for seven-year-old Mayeda, as she recalls months of alternative schooling because of a lack of disaster preparedness in her village.
Mayeda grew up in Tarua, a small village in Bangladesh where class was often taught outside so locals could clean up the mess left by a flood.
“We just had a roof without any walls, there was nothing left,” Mayeda said.
Mayeda Rashid is now living in Australia and completing her Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC PhD investigating Child-centred teacher-facilitated disaster resilience education program at CQUniversity.
“I have a passion for children, I’ve always wanted to work with them while studying disaster risk reduction,” Mayeda says.
Fifty-three children were involved in the first phase of Mayeda’s research, where they were involved in designing the program through focus group discussions.
“The program has been designed by children. They know what they want to learn and how they want to learn,” Mayeda says.
Mayeda has also been working with practitioners from non-government organisations to better understand what their needs are for effective disaster education.
Mayeda met with the representatives from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief in Bangladesh to discuss the importance of the program and better understand disaster education policy for the future scope and sustainability of her program.
She will soon return to Tarua Girls High School, where she first witnessed severe flooding, to test the program with a group of fifty children.
“The program is a skeleton at the moment, but I will start modifying it through the testing phase,” Mayeda says.
Children participating in Mayeda's research. Photo: Mayeda Rashid.
Six teachers will facilitate the program by conducting educational activities, which will increase students knowledge and motivate them to better prepare for a disaster.
This enhanced preparedness will then lead to increased resilience and awareness about the severities of natural hazards and climate change.
“Children want to share their learning with their friends and family members, which is really important because of the large number of children who do not attend school in Bangladesh,” Mayeda says.
Bangladesh has a population of 156 million people in an area that is 52 times smaller than Australia.
Much of the country was left devastated after the 1998 floods, which that left 75 per cent of the country underwater.
During this time, Mayeda recalls catching a boat around her village while local villagers collected money to rebuild the town.