Save the Children, DRTSS Donate Road Safety Equipment to Mlodza School
Save the Children and DRTSS donate road safety equipment to Mlodza Primary School to enhance learner safety, writes Judgement Katika.
LILONGWE, Malawi — Save the Children and the Directorate for Road Traffic and Safety Services (DRTSS) have donated road safety equipment to Mlodza Primary School of Lilongwe in an effort to reduce road accidents among school learners, writes Judgement Katika.
Frank Mwafuliwa, Save the Children's Director of Operation, spoke at the presentation ceremony on Thursday in Lilongwe.
He noted that the proximity of the school to the road is risky for children.
"We have three ambitions: every child must survive for the first five years, every child must be able to learn, and every child must be protected," he said.
Mwafuliwa added that they are working with the Department of Road Safety Services to train learners at the school.
"This week, we are celebrating United Nations 2023 Global Road Safety Week. That's why we decided to come back to Mlodza Primary School to refresh those children we have been working with so that they get new skills and the new equipment we donated today," he said.
Gomezgani Gondwe, DRTSS Road Transport Officer, said school-going children are being affected by road accidents.
"We have taken note of the ages from zero to ten and ten to twenty. We are very concerned about the accidents that young people are involved in."
Loncy Masonda Banda, Mlodza Primary School Headteacher, said it is a difficult moment for learners as they walk across the road from their homes to school and back.
"They were facing a lot of problems because road users, especially motorists and cyclists, were not following what the learners were doing on the road despite them wearing reflectors and carrying road signposts."
Banda added that with the help of the school committee, the Parents Teacher Association (PTA), and the chief, as well as the entire community, they may be able to conduct civic awareness campaigns concerning how children should cross the road through the Department of Road Safety Services.
Peace Misomali, a standard six learner at Mlodza Primary School, said that the coming of road safety equipment will help them a lot because many learners were getting into road accidents involving cars, motorbikes, and bicycles.
The road safety equipment donated by Save the Children and DRTSS includes cones, signposts, whistles, and reflectors.
According to DRTSS's 2022 fatal road accident report, Lilongwe recorded 86 accidents, Kasungu recorded 68, followed by Mangochi, Chileka, and Mchinji with 41, 40, and 37, respectively.