The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to teach the children traffic rules and road safety. The government school students of the state would now learn these safety rules during the morning assembly.
The move stands to take into account over 1.91 crore students studying in 1.31 lakh government primary and upper primary schools across UP. The schools would be required to display traffic rules and slogans on the walls in their premises to draw students' attention towards road safety. It is an initiative of the state's Transport Department, as per a report by IANS.
The Basic Education Department of the state has issued instructions to principals of these schools to hold a meeting for awareness of parents as well, in this regard. Ganesh Kumar, Joint Director, Basic Education, said that the department had approached the schools to spread awareness among children.
"Students will be told not to use mobile phones while crossing roads, to educate parents not to drive vehicles at high speed and use seat belts while driving. A school transport safety committee will be constituted to raise awareness among the students to follow road signs like zebra lines, cross the roads when the signal is red, avoid speeding, follow road norms, traffic signs, highway codes, traffic hazards and related topics," Kumar said.
He also informed that instructions in this regard have been sent to all district-level officers to inform the school principals. The letter explains that the Transport Department has expressed concern over the increasing number of people killed in road accidents.
"The department is seeking the co-operation of the Basic Education Department to help reduce the number by spreading awareness of the need to adhere to road safety rules. It wants to educate and sensitise students at an early age so that they may also tell their parents and neighbours to follow road safety norms," it says.
According to the Transport Department, every year, a large number of road accidents occur in the state that results in irreparable loss of life and property. Special emphasis is being laid on road safety by the government to control the number of deaths in these increasing accidents, the department said, as per IANS.
"The state government has set a target to reduce the number of road accidents and deaths by 7-10 per cent in the current year, as compared to 2021. A Supreme Court committee on road safety is also reviewing the efforts being made by issuing regular instructions to bring down the death toll in road accidents. The target is to reduce the death toll in road accidents by 50 per cent by 2030," it added.