Key Points

• The children of Tamil Nadu include 3,512,530 in urban areas (10.06% of the total urban population) and 3,911,302 in rural areas (10.51% of the total rural population).
• According to a UNICEF report, 20% of the children left inadequate medical health care at the school period and there are minimal guidelines for schools on how to deal with children’s emergency health situations in India.
• A Cross sectional survey in rural Tamil Nadu Report shows that the rate of accidents among children in 0-14 years are drowning 7.2%, tripping and falling 81.67 %, animal bites 0.76%, burns 3.81% and poisoning 40.3%
• The study also shows that Injury rate in children in Tamilnadu for 0-14 years was 341.89/1000 child-years and mortality rate of 39.16/100,000 child-years due to injuries 
• As per a recent study in a journal published by CMC Vellore, Sudden Cardiac Arrest(SCA) is the leading cause of death in young athletes. However, it was found that 1 in 100 student athletes who suffer SCA survived due to prompt action and treatment. 

• Many Schools in Tamil Nadu do not have school health services and school health nurses and most times are found wanting when an emergency situation arises within school premises.

• Most school teachers are not equipped with the level of training required to be able to handle in house or in school emergencies.

While any of the medical emergencies can happen to anyone at any point of time, a thought evoking problem arises when we think how safe our children out of home are. Majority of the time which they spent at Schools, tuition centres etc are when they are out of parental supervision. It’s not easy to be around children 24*7 but then it is easy or better to empower them and other people around them to take charge of the situation during medical emergencies.

Why is this petition important

“All citizens – All health workers” –UNICEF

It is really common for accidents to happen in School environments because often there are many people assembled at one place and children can be clumsy. Slips, falls and trips are common too. It could happen in class rooms, staff rooms, corridors, playgrounds and stairs of the school. 

Therefore, it is our responsibility to educate every stakeholder, including students, teachers, school management officials, house-keeping staffs, school bus drivers, etc. inside of the school campuses of Tamil Nadu in First Response Management.

When we introduce life-saving techniques at school level to children, we are not only preparing them for immediate medical emergencies that may frequent them in the coming years, but we are empowering them for rest of their lives. We are empowering our future generation to be

• self-reliant
• confident
• know the value of human life
• grow with humanity
• have better human connection
• have helping tendency right from young age
• knowledge of basics to do during medical emergency right from young age

When accidents occur, most times, there usually is a gap between the occurrence and arrival of health-care professionals due to various reasons. This gap becomes critical when it gets longer and there are many reports of even loss of life. Therefore, we need to empower general public in basic First Aid measures, and in the advent of medical emergencies at schools, students need to be taught to be confident and volunteer to save the lives of their fellow classmates. It inculcates a tendency of ‘help ever, hurt never’ in children and reminds them of the social responsibility they have towards humanity. 

By teaching children easy life-saving concepts like how to tie a sling for hand fracture or by educating them on the brief processes of Basic Life Support, our children will become well-rounded who gain perspective on the importance of saving human life! We will make them strong, empathetic individuals who extend hand to help others in the Golden Hour of need. 

Our Ask

Please sign this petition to positively impact our children of today and our country’s Good Samaritan citizens of tomorrow! We request you to share our petition in your known circles for gaining more support in mandating incorporation of First-Aid syllabus in School Curriculum and School Education. 

May our aspiring, young minds also be life-savers! Lets bring in a safer and better Emergency care eco system with the help of the young minds right from their young age.

Why your support matters?

Every support counts, Every signature counts!

On achieving 1 lakh signatures to this petition, we will present the same to Government of Tamil Nadu to help our children and teachers become self-reliant in the advent of medical emergencies. First Response must reach each and every school of Tamil Nadu. With your support, students can be empowered with life saving skills at a young age. 

A state that depends a lot on human capital, such a change will go a long way in a safer and a compassionate society along with sustained economical progress.

Who We Are

ALERT is an NGO that works towards building a better emergency care eco system. From its inception in 2006, ALERT is in a constant endeavor to achieve the goal set for it by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam i.e., to “train one in every family in emergency care”. Targeting audiences such as school/ college students, Traffic police, Law and Order Police, Police training academies, SETC drivers, corporate employees, auto/cab drivers, homemakers, shopkeepers, fishermen etc., ALERT has trained over 2,55,000+ people to date. ALERT’s curriculum is endorsed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the Department of Health - Governments of Tamilnadu & Karnataka, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, PSG Hospitals, Coimbatore and is approved to be offered as a credit course at IIT, Madras.

To know more about ALERT, login to www.alert.ngo

Also do check out ALERT So Far Since 2006