Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Students’ green signal for road safety forums

Thiruvananthapuram: School road safety forums in the State, set up on the lines of those functioning in the U.K., has been able to increase awareness of road safety issues among children and inculcate a good road-use culture among the new generation.

The forums have been set up in 64 schools in nine districts of the State under the Road Safety Programme of the World Bank-aided Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP). They have been effective in creating a road-safety organisational structure for the school and evaluating and monitoring school road-safety activities.

The schools selected for implementing the project were located on the stretches where the roads were developed under the KSTP. These were in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod districts. The forums have been effective in identifying school road-safety issues and finding solutions to them.

Delivering talks in the school assembly about the road-safety theme, organising monthly road-safety competitions and preparation of year planner, monthly newsletters and school road-safety magazines have made the forums a favourite among the students.

Sony Thomas, Project Consultant, Road Safety Awareness Programme, KSTP, told The Hindu that the forums had been effective in creating a road sense among the children and reducing the accident rate. The forum comprises the principal or headmaster as the chairman or chairperson, representatives of the parent-teacher association, school road safety officer, junior road safety officer, deputy junior road safety officer and road crossing wardens.

The selection of junior and deputy junior road safety officers and wardens from among the students has also helped in making the scheme popular.

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