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NGO institutes road safety education for kids in school curricula

The relaxed feel that one finds in the idyllic town of Goris belies the perils of its roads, which include two major highways, main arteries linking Nagorno-Karabakh and Iran, on Armenia's southern border, to Georgia, on the northern border. Amid increasing streams of heavy-duty 14-wheel commercial trucks, buses and high-speed passenger cars, children walk back and forth to school, unsupervised, with no formal road safety knowledge. The danger is apparent in the statistics: in Goris, pedestrian casualties are up to 23 per year, and in the last two years six children have been killed at the same busy intersection. While school directors are interested in adding road safety lessons to their curricula, they lack the necessary capacity in terms of funding and instructional methodology.

Goris-based Bari Ert Automoto Fans, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) working in partnership with Yerevan's National Road Safety Council (NRSC)-both grantees of two of Counterpart's partner intermediary service organizations (ISOs)-created a way to ensure that children acknowledge the risks when walking on the roads and are aware of road safety. Bari Ert spearheaded the creation of a practical and fun 30-page teacher's handbook on sound road safety practices which will be piloted among 4th and 5th graders in the town of Goris. As a result of effective campaigning, the NGO convinced the town's six school directors to require the Safety is in Your Hands educational handbook in their schools. As a result of the group's advocacy efforts, the handbook was officially approved by Armenia's National Institute of Education.

Bari Ert, with regular consultations from NRSC and advocacy trainings from Counterpart-supported Goris Teacher's Union ISO, achieved its objectives through persistence and grass-roots mobilization. First, the project staff conducted a baseline survey in the town's six schools to test 4th and 5th graders' existing knowledge of road safety. Next, the NGO formed a working group, comprising representatives from the marz governor's office, traffic police, NGOs and schools, to oversee implementing the project. An expert from another Counterpart grantee, Achilles Society for the Defense of Drivers Rights, designed the teaching methodology. Project staff then mobilized stakeholders in roundtable discussions and introduced the proposed handbook. While all participants acknowledged the need for better road safety education, some were skeptical about whether any major change would happen as a result of the project. "Resources and good organizational skills are needed for this kind of change to happen," a school director shared, but after three more meetings stakeholders were convinced.

Bari Ert submitted the draft handbook to the Syunik branch of the National Institute of Education for approval, and after three revisions over a period of three months, the teaching tool was approved. In the meantime, the NGO raised public awareness about the importance of road safety education through newspaper and magazine articles. Schoolchildren helped by handing out Driver be Careful! brochures to drivers getting in and out of their cars.

When asked, "Who is responsible for teaching road safety?" a local mother unequivocally replied, "It is the responsibility of the state." This attitude is slowly changing, as evident in the response of local teacher, Armine Sergeyan, "The state cannot do it all. We must all accept responsibility." In the first few months after the handbook was published, 1,500 students in the town of Goris were taught road safety. The success will be taken to the national level next, as NRSC implements a road safety education campaign proposing use of the handbook nationwide.

PHOTO: Large trucks pass through this narrow Goris highway in frequent intervals

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