Ind eng-094-doc
- 1. “sambal ke chalo bach ke raho” Siddarth kanchustambam, Karthikeya Rao, Kadiri Ruthvik Reddy, Nihar Kurra, Gopthri , K. Sashank : Mentor: Mr. Srinivas Reddy- P.ed Teacher Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, Hydearabad- 500016, AP, India FEEL We, the pupils of Hyderabad Public School, are troubled by the day to day traffic congestion and are moved by the number of accidents happening around us. We have tried to figure out the reasons. We felt that lack of awareness and traffic sense in road users is the primary reason for the problem. Lack of proper roads and footpaths makes the problem worse. The problem is not only on the roads but also in our school campus. Our school has an excellent Parking lot with marked lines and foot paths, spanning over 2.5 acres. About 500 cars, 30 auto rickshaws, 10 vans, and a hundred scooters use this area during school opening and closing hours. However, the drivers tend to park the vehicles as and where they like. Some drive disorderly and stop the cars in the middle of the way to drop or pick children.
- 2. These things not only cause inconvenience to the users, but also some minor accidents. IMAGINE We wished to transform the roads and traffic of Hyderabad altogether. But, it was an immense project requiring lot of time, money, and support from government. We decided to make the beginning within the school and make a difference not just for one week but for ever and approached the principal with our mentor. She was impressed with our idea of conducting a parking lot safety week and promised us her full support. After several brain storming sessions, we drew a plan of action. We 6th graders were venturing to teach the parents and drivers how to drive and park the vehicles in the school campus, apart from getting the children to follow certain rules. Before jumping in, we took the pictures and videos of the parking lot. (The YouTube video ' sambhal ke chalo, Bach ke raho' shows how disorderly the traffic was before the campaign and how it
- 3. transformed after) We sat down with the mentor and principal, laid down the rules –as ‘Parking lot etiquette’ and decided on the week. The budget for pamphlets, banners, permanent boards etc. was approved by the Registrar. DO Eagle court Safety awareness campaign was launched with an announcement in the assembly and an SMS message to all parents. Children were asked to follow, and communicate the parking lot etiquette to their parents and drivers. • A team of volunteers were trained to act as “parking lot squad” by our mentors • Big banners reading “parking lot safety week” were put in front of the school gates. • Charts with parking lot etiquette displayed • Pamphlets with the same rules handed over to the users.
- 4. • Squad interacted with the drivers and children who are not following the rules and ensured that parking lot etiquette is strictly implemented. • Some of the parents joined them in spreading the message The response from students and parents was very encouraging. By day 3 we had at least 40-50 volunteers wanting to join us. By that time most people were following the basic safety rules.
- 5. By the seventh day • All primary school children were walking on the footpaths. • Nobody was stopping in the middle of the way to drop or pick kids. • People started using vacant bays, rather than trying to go through overcrowded first bay near to the gate. • All auto rickshaws were going through the designated areas only. • This lead to safe and smooth flow of traffic. • Biggest success was: not a single fall or accident during the week and in the following weeks
- 6. Problems faced & Lessons learned Some drivers, who were used to parking their vehicles in wrong places did not like us telling them to move. Some of them were rough with volunteers. 11th and 12th graders teased the volunteers and pulled the volunteer badges off. Couple of teachers were upset, when requested not to get impatient and honk. One grandparent said this was the job of Traffic police. He discouraged the team from doing the job. He said that students of Hyderabad Public school should study hard and become doctors or engineers, not waste their time on the roads like this. Though we were happy to see a number of students coming forward to volunteer, we felt helpless when they started crowding the area not knowing what to do. It became very difficult for us to manage them and give them work. We realized that acting like traffic police, simply whistling and directing people to follow rules does not work. It sometimes can annoy people. We then started using the magic words, ' Sorry, Please and Thank you'. The Volunteers stood with sign posts appropriate for each place. Most drivers acknowledged the message and followed. Those who did not,
- 7. were approached by the volunteers after they have parked. The volunteers handed them over a pamphlet and explained them the reasons behind each rule. One big lesson we learned is that we cannot make any project a success, without involving the senior students early. If we had recruited some senior school students as volunteers before the awareness week, we could have got senior school children also to follow the rules. We learned that just inspiring and involving more students was not good enough. We needed the help of our parents to gather the new volunteers in one place and tell them what is expected of them. A lesson learnt after the completion of a week long campaign is that ' Old habits die hard'. All of us are now so involved that, even though the week has gone, we make it a point remind people when they get tempted to slip off in to their old habits. Our hand written charts have now become permanent boards and are displayed around the parking lot. We could make the school campus a safer place for over 3200 students and staff. We know we can design for a change.
- 8. We believe that safety can be improved by self-discipline alone and not by security checks and Traffic police. Our campaign will continue with the motto ‘Let us prepare and prevent, not repair and repent' The team