Govt mulls including road safety lessons in school syllabus

Thane, Jan 29: Maharashtra government is mulling to incorporate lessons on road safety in school syllabus to inculcate safety habits among students, Education Minister Vinod Tawde has said. Observing that the number of road accidents was on the rise, Tawde said that every household needs to be made aware about road safety.

"The state government will examine the possibility of including road safety lessons in the school curriculum," he told reporters last evening at the closing ceremony of a road safety campaign carried out by Thane Police Commissionerate.

The campaign was launched in the city on January 8. The education minister also said that from the next academic year, the students of class X and XII of the state board would be allotted examination centres near their homes.

It has been observed that students find it difficult to reach the far off examination centres, therefore it has been decided to allot them centres near their homes, he said.

Tawde also said that the students would be provided the question and answer papers ten minutes before the start of an examination. In order to reduce the load of school bags carried by students, the government is contemplating a computerised system of education, he said in reply to a question. On the occasion, Thane's Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde said lessons on road safety should be taught to students in schools, to achieve zero rate of accidents.

On the lines of the CBSE and ICSE curriculum, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Education should also include road safety lessons in school syllabus to educate the students about its importance, he said. Thane Police Commissioner Vijay Kamble and Joint Commissioner of Police V V Lakshmi Narayana were among others present on the occasion.

PTI