Teachers in Tabasco, Mexico, collaborate with UNESCO to protect educational communities and mitigate disaster risks in coastal areas

The risk of the sea encroaching on land, challenges to the sustainability of fishing and aquaculture activities, soil health for farming, and the rational use of electricity are among the troubles expressed and faced by coastal communities. These issues are also part of the concerns of children in classrooms, related to whether they will be able to continue living with their families in the area. For this reason, the proposals in the guide seek to link classroom work with community life.

The guide currently under development addresses, for example, safe infrastructure, the implementation of drills, environmental management, the creation of safety protocols and their organization, and the development of school emergency plans.

Teachers and education leaders met in Sánchez Magallanes to learn about the first version of the guide, which continues to be developed based on their experiences and grounded in the principles of the New Mexican School, as well as in international instruments such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Minimum Standards of the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies .

These actions are part of UNESCO's programme to strengthen resilience and the capacities of the population in Tabasco for disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and sustainable development, with the support of ENI Mexico.

This work adds to UNESCO's experience in Mexico in addressing Education in Emergency Situations in recent years, including training workshops for around 1,000 teachers, education authorities, supervisory staff, and school leaders in Acapulco and Coyuca de Benítez following Hurricanes Otis and John. The guide being developed in Tabasco thus joins other pedagogical tools to prepare for climate change and emergencies in the context of upper secondary education, a disaster risk mapping for schools and communities , and a monograph on Guerrero's territorial risks .