Spreading traffic safety awareness to primary school students

At Ha Bau Primary School (Dak Doa District), the image of students voluntarily wearing helmets even when riding bicycles, lining up orderly after school or being guided by teachers to cross the street correctly has become familiar. Parents are also more aware when picking up and dropping off their children, stopping and parking in the right places. This is a direct result of the activities of the "Safe to School" project, implemented by the Gia Lai Provincial Traffic Safety Committee in coordination with a number of units from the 2023-2024 school year.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Hoa, Vice Principal of Ha Bau Primary School, said: "Since its implementation, the project has distributed 872 helmets to teachers and students. In addition, the project also sponsors the improvement of traffic infrastructure in the area around the school such as reinforcing cement concrete curbs on both sides of the road, connecting sewers, expanding the main gate entrance, building a parking area for parents, adding painted lines, signs, warning lights... according to standards with a total infrastructure investment of about 500 million VND."

One of the important pillars of the project is the dissemination and education of traffic safety, which is carried out in a diverse and direct manner. To improve pedagogical capacity, the project organized intensive training courses, providing skills and active teaching methods on road traffic safety for 63 key teachers at two schools, and equipped each of them with a set of detailed instruction materials.

Students of Ha Bau Primary School have been aware of wearing helmets when participating in traffic. Photo: HD

At the same time, equipping students with knowledge is also focused on with more than 1,716 traffic safety handbooks distributed to students and specialized classes on "Wearing helmets", "Safe walking", "Safe cycling" are regularly organized for nearly 1,640 students.

The propaganda activities have become more visual and vivid through the provision of 2 large billboards and 2 sets of automatic traffic light models. In particular, events such as Traffic Safety Day and the "30 days of safe school" campaign have created a strong ripple effect, attracting the enthusiastic participation of all students and teachers, thereby building a learning atmosphere and commitment to traffic safety throughout the school.

Ms. Thuy Hoa added: "The school is located on provincial road 670B, so the traffic density is quite high and there is a potential risk of causing accidents. Previously, many students were not equipped with skills and knowledge about traffic safety. When the project was implemented, the students received knowledge, knew how to wear helmets, and crossed the street properly. Teachers also gained more teaching skills. Thanks to that, the traffic safety situation in the school area was more secure."

Similarly, at Trang Primary School (Dak Doa District), the project also brought about clear results. Nay H'Yun, a fourth grader, excitedly said: "I was given a helmet, learned how to wear it properly, and how to cross the street safely. I will go home and tell my friends and family to do it together."

Mr. Vo Ngoc Quang, Deputy Chief of Office of the Provincial Traffic Safety Committee, informed about the specific results: The project has helped to renovate and build 156.34 m2 of sidewalks, nearly 430 m2 of concrete yard; installed 6 traffic signs; added road markings; installed 2 sets of yellow flashing lights. Notably, the results of the assessment of road safety in school areas according to the iRAP Program have increased from 1 to 3 stars.

Mr. Quang emphasized: "The change in students' behavior is the clearest proof. The school gate area after renovation has contributed to improving the rate of students performing the correct steps for walking and crossing the street safely, in which 100% of students walk on the sidewalk and the rate of students crossing the street correctly increased from 20% before renovation to 96.9% after renovation. The rate of students wearing helmets also increased impressively from 44.5% to 88.9%."

It can be seen that the synchronous combination of infrastructure improvement and promotion of propaganda and education not only creates a safer traffic environment around schools but also forms awareness and skills for civilized and safe traffic participation for future generations, contributing to reducing traffic accidents in the area.

In the 2023-2024 school year, the "Safe School" project will be implemented at Ha Bau Primary School and Trang Commune Primary School with a total cost of nearly 1.4 billion VND.

In the 2024-2025 school year, the "Safe School" project continues to be implemented at primary schools in Phu Thien district including: Phan Chu Trinh (Ia Ake commune), Nguyen Trai (Ia Piar commune) and Le Loi (Ia Sol commune) with a total funding of nearly 2.17 billion VND.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/gia-lai-lan-toa-y-thuc-an-toan-giao-thong-cho-hoc-sinh-tieu-hoc-20250409233238369.htm