Calcutta, March 9: There’s a new teacher in town: Calcutta police.

More than 40 schools, seven colleges and two universities in the city have received copies of a 72-page book from Lalbazar, explaining how to handle crises ranging from a terror attack to a natural disaster.

Emergency Management Planning for Educational Institutions is a comprehensive survival kit that aims to inculcate a standard operating procedure for various crisis situations.

“You have to be systematic while handling emergencies. This book has the helpline numbers and all the tips one might need. We will do some mock drills once we have the names of representatives of various institutions,” said K. Hari Rajan, the additional commissioner of police.

The book has blank spaces that are meant to be filled up by each institution, mentioning the names of the people who would be responsible for handling different aspects of crisis management — from evacuation and route management to first-aid and shifting injured students to hospitals.

“We have received the book and will be reverting to the police soon with the details they have asked for,” said Malini Bhagat, the principal of Mahadevi Birla Girls High School. “This is the first such endeavour by the police and a very encouraging approach towards crisis management.”

The police’s textbook approach to crisis management has impressed the heads of other educational institutes, too.

“It is a hardbound, well-brought-out book and an effective way of introducing a structured method of dealing with emergencies. We already follow many of the steps prescribed in the book, including the fire and evacuation drills. This campaign by the police will help in maintaining uniformity in standard procedures in all institutes,” said Devi Kar, the principal of Modern High School for Girls.

One of the chapters is headlined “What every teacher needs to know” and explains the emergency situations other than explosions and terror attacks (see box). Teachers need to undergo first-aid and CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) training apart from learning routine survival techniques. “They will need to know and teach students how to drop, duck and hold on to a table, and cover the head with a schoolbag or a heavy book during a quake,” an officer said.