Children fling themselves onto the floor and cover their heads with their hands as loud bangs ring out in the classroom. In one of Venezuela's most violent neighbourhoods, this is a shootout drill.
A group of elementary schoolchildren lie in the playground floor during a shooting drill at the Manuel Aguirre school in La Bombilla neighbourhood in Caracas on 23 February, 2023.In the classrooms and courtyards of Venezuela schools, children are educated on a shootout drill where they are taught how to violent shootings.
Some take cover in classrooms, others in corridors or the courtyard of the Manuel Aguirre primary and secondary school in the sprawling, crime-riddled slum complex of Petare in the capital, Caracas.The drill takes about 20 minutes. The training is organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross at Manuel Aguirre and other schools in Caracas.
Petare had a rate of 80 violent deaths per 100 000 inhabitants in 2022, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, an NGO. There are no official statistics. "We had a tense week, we are going to pray for peace," the nun tells pupils gathered in the courtyard.The Jesus Maestro school has 722 preschool and primary school pupils, but when tensions flare up, not even 200 attend, with civilians caught up in the crossfire and many afraid to leave their homes.
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