NEW DELHI: With the aim of inculcating awareness about road safety among school children, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will bring out an ‘activity book’and board games like ‘snake and ladder’.
The ministry has planned a separate 36-page book for primary and middle- or senior-level school children. Besides Hindi and English, the publications and game will be printed in 14 regional languages — Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
To develop content, designing and production, the ministry will engage an experienced service provider. It has already started a selection process to finalise on the content developer and publisher. Apart from interactive content, the government will take the help of reflective stickers on five different topics on good Samaritan, road signs, traffic rules, safety measures, violations and penalties.
The number of road accidents in the country has been on decline in the last couple of years. However, fatalities in road mishaps have not been lessening. The number of deaths was significantly low in 2020 as there was restriction on the movement during the lockdown imposed to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the annual report on road accidents in India released in December, 4.12 lakh accidents took place on roads during 2021 in which 1.53 lakh people lost their lives and more than 3.84 persons were injured.
As per the ministry’s findings, road accidents have decreased by 8.1 per cent and injuries decreased by 14.8 per cent in 2021 compared to 2019. Fatalities, however, on accounts of road accidents increased by 1.9 percent in 2021 corresponding to the same period in 2019.
According to the officials, the proposed activity books will contain photographs, graphic, illustration, short stories, games, maze, riddles and puzzles to teach readers about the significance of safe driving, traffic rules, and etiquettes. The publication will be distributed among all RTOs, CBSE affiliated schools, and other stakeholders across states.