The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Proactive role for Parent-Teacher Associations

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 13, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Proactive role for Parent-Teacher Associations

Meera Srinivasan

A few of them have taken up seating capacity norms and speed regulation with van drivers

THINKING TOGETHER: Parents, van operators, school heads and traffic police at a meeting held recently initiated by the Traffic Police in a city school. — PHOTO: R. RAGU

CHENNAI: What role can Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) play in ensuring road safety of students? How can they prevent van drivers from overloading vehicles and discourage their wards from driving two wheelers without valid licence?

As bodies supervising students' welfare, PTAs can adopt a proactive role in making the roads safe for school-goers, say activists. Parents, in a few schools such as Bala Vidya Mandir and S.B.O.A., are doing their bit by helping regulate traffic during the opening and closing hours of the schools. A few of them have adopted car pools to reduce the number of vehicles transporting children. A few others have been taking up the issue of safe transportation, including seating capacity norms and speed regulation with drivers of vans, autorickshaws and cars.

"Road safety is discussed at each of our meetings. We have students using different modes of transport using different gates. Otherwise, it becomes very difficult, as there is heavy traffic on Royapettah High Road," Subhashini Parthasarathy, secretary, PTA of Vidya Mandir (Mylapore) said.

"Parents regularly raise safety issues, among themselves and vehicle drivers. We are trying to reduce the number of four-wheelers by adopting car pools," T.S. Narayanaswamy, executive committee member of the PTA in Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan.

At SBOA (Anna Nagar), members of the PTA have succeeded in persuading the school to forbid students from parking their two-wheelers inside the campus. "This will discourage students from bringing their two wheelers to school," N. Neethinathan, the PTA president said.

So far, parents have been doing their bit as a voluntary measure. This responsibility has not been written into the PTA code.

Periodic meetings

Traffic police propose to hold periodic meetings with PTAs from next month, Sunil Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic told The Hindu . Besides facilitating regular interaction between parents, school authorities and traffic police, these meetings are expected to initiate an agenda in writing on transportation safety for PTAs.

"There are three agencies other than traffic police involved in ensuring road safety — parents, school authorities and persons transporting students. Parents can make a huge difference," he said. According to the official, some parents tend to get tempted by small financial benefits and opt for unsafe modes of transport. "If we still find overcrowded vans and autorickshaws, it means parents have not checked if the operator is adhering to the seating capacity norm," he said.

Traffic police held the first round of meetings with school heads in July and bring down the alarming increase in the number of fatal road accidents involving schoolchildren.

"We certainly need feedback from parents on a regular basis," Mr. Kumar said.

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