New Delhi : About 104 pioneer schools and 36 national student champions were across 23 states in the country were awarded National Road Safety Education Excellence Awards under the National Road Safety Mission for Schools (NRSM) launched by the India chapter of the Geneva based International Road Federation (IRF) a global road safety body working for better and safer roads world wide along with Academia Axis Edutech , a Non Government body to ensure safe mobility for students near school an d education zones.
About 5000 Schools across the nation were Integrated in the road safety campaign with educating and sanitizing more than 22 lakh students about road safety and from them 4.65 lakh students becoming as as Road safety Ambassadors. The road safety mission included improving School zone Infrastructure ner the school zone, encompassing the school through low cost engineering interventions like traffic signages, traffic calming, road markings, delineators and installing road studs. This was complemented by a customised road safety education imparted digitally for classes 1 to 12.
“The road safety education is imparted during summer and winter vacations so that it is participative in nature along with parents. Road safety has emerged as one of the most critical public concerns in India, particularly with the growing number of accidents involving children near schools and educational zones. Ensuring safe mobility for students and fostering a culture of responsible road use among young citizens has become an urgent national priority. In this context, a dedicated mission focusing on schools played a vital role in shaping safer road behavior and promoting community-driven safety initiatives.” Mr K K Kapila, President Emeritus, International Road Federation (IRF) while distributing the awards.
“In India, road safety is a major concern as annually nearly 1.73 lakh lives are lost. Nearly 7-8 percent of these fatalities take place near unsafe school zones, underscoring road safety as a significant societal concern. Over 80% of these accidents are preventable . In a proactive effort to tackle this issue, the National Road Safety Mission for Schools initiative will help cultivate a culture of road safety in our society from an early age and make school zones safer. Thus making each child’s journey to school safer “ Mr Kapila said.
“Some of the activities being put in place under the initiative launched in league with Academia Axis Edutech, a non government body, included advocating for the inclusion of a uniformed road safety syllabi in school curricula. Conducting safety audits of school zones based on Indian Road Congress (IRC) -32 standards, ranking them in a public portal for awareness, and simultaneously providing capacity-building through online training for conducting these audits. Collaborating with schools and local authorities to improve school zones through road markings, signage, pedestrian crossings, speed reduction measures, and footpaths. “ said Mr K K Kapila
“Promoting road safety awareness among children through creative activities, such as plays, quizzes, skits, drawing competitions, cartoons, and stories. This methodology equips schools with unique login IDs for comprehensive road safety zone information, improving safety standard enforcement. In its pilot phase under the Ministry of Education , IRF India-Chapter has audited 10 schools each in Five states across the nation including Assam, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and five schools in New Delhi.” Said Mr. Kapila.
The mission is still on in various states including Delhi. Mr Kapila also stressed on implementing 5 E’s of Road safety including Road Engineering, Vehicle Engineering, Education, Enforcement and Emergency care .