Georgetown: Even as the Education Ministry strives to improve its pass rate, Road Safety has also been placed high on the agenda of the education sector. In this regard the Ministry of Education has been aiming to revamp, in schools across the country, its Road Safety Programme, according to Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam. He revealed that although the programme has been a standard feature in the education system, it had over the years not been operating optimally.
Of recent, the Ministry was able to meet with members of the Police Force and the Road Safety Council, a move which was aimed at reviving interest in the programme. “They provided the equipment and we are going to improve the way this programme is being seen right now and we are going to get more schools on this slowly but surely,” Sam asserted.
But while the efforts to restore the Road Safety programme in schools have been intensified there are some schools that have over the years remained committed to the programme. “Road Safety is everybody’s business,” said Senior Mistress at the Abram Zuil Secondary School, Kumarie Seurattan, as she amplified the importance of the School’s Road Safety Programme. She revealed during an interview with this publication that the Essequibo Coast School has always seen the programme as essential, adding that “we at Abram Zuil have always had our students’ interest at heart.”
The school, according to Seurattan, had some time ago been able to set up its own Road Safety Committee which is tasked with overseeing road safety issues at the school. Every term, she explained, a rota system, which the school has been able to sustained, is adjusted with at least two teachers being tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that roads in the immediate environ of the school are safe. The programme entails the selection of students who are assigned to patrol duty, that is, students who are outfitted with signs and badges and tasked with helping other students, with the aid of teachers, to cross the thoroughfares. “Students selected to monitor the crossing are selected to perform throughout the school year and we usually take into consideration students living in the vicinity of the school to be patrols and the teachers help to organize the crossing so there is orderliness on the road,” the Senior Mistress assured.
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