Road Safety projects in Kwazulu-Natal schools underway
Work has begun in the Empangeni Region to prepare learners who will participate in the Road Safety Debates and the Participatory Education Techniques (PET) programmes this year.
The programmes are run in the form of competitions among school learners from a regional, provincial and national levels.
Empangeni Region Road Safety Deputy Director Nompumelelo Moloi, says that learners from six schools in Empangeni Region have already been chosen to participate on the PET project. They are from Grade 10 and 11.
“We provide learners with a platform to identify road safety related problems in their vicinity that they find to be compromising their safety to and from school. The department provides a platform to train them on research skills, and to identify and analyse the road safety problem they have encountered in their environment.”
“From this kind of activity, they are expected to provide inputs that have been intensively researched towards the formulation of the solution that has to be implemented. Most of the time the solutions they provide are of an engineering nature. In that instance, it therefore affords the implementation processes an opportunity for an integrated focus within the department,” says Moloi.
The selected schools fall within the boundaries of the four Empangeni Region’s Cost Centres. They are: Nhlakanipho Development Centre, Intuthuko Special School, Koonfoor Secondary School, Mfolozi Secondary School, Gwejobovu High School and Mchakweni High School.
“As the department we work hand in hand with the Transportation Committees. In consultation with the structure we are able to formulate the road safety plan from which these schools have been drawn. The road safety plan drawn in this fashion begins to articulate the road safety strategy that has to be implemented within each Local Municipality going forward,” added Moloi.
Winning schools from the Regional competition will then move to the Provincial competition and further to participate in the National competition.
