Puma Energy Tanzania has launched a Road Safety drawing competition for schools, an initiative that offers young children education on road safety.
Launched in Dar es Salaam today in the presence of the Chief of Traffic Police, Mohamed Mpinga, Government officials and Teachers, the campaign that involves road safety awareness training to school children will also involve a drawing competition for school children.
“The purpose of involving school children is because we believe that they are the most vulnerable so road safety awareness needs to be sensitized to them from their childhood. In doing so they grow up with road safety knowledge which they acquired at their young age, “This is our first priority’’ said Mr. Philippe Corsaletti, General Manager, Puma Energy Tanzania.
Mr. Corsaletti said Road Safety is the company’s first priority in corporate social responsibilities while adding; “We have decided to focus specifically on the primary school children knowing that they are exposed to many road dangers.’’
Puma Energy started the program in 2013 which has already covered 33 schools and trained a total of 39,000 children in the country, Mr Corsaletti said while promising that the company will continue investing on Road Safety awareness campaign and ensure that this remains to be one of its top priorities.
“We have done some audit on the effectiveness of the training offered so far and the good news is that in all schools that we have conducted the training, the safety awareness has highly improved,’’ mentioned Mr Tom Bishop a Deputy Director of Amend, a non-governmental organization working in the area of road safety.
He added that this year the company is going to conduct road safety training at 10 schools in Dar es Salaam and 3 schools in Kilimanjaro.
Dar es Salaam schools will be Diamond and Olympio from Ilala District, Mkwawa and Kigogo from Kinondoni, Buza and Amani from Temeke, Mbezi and Amani from Ubungo and Kibugumo and Kibada from Kigamboni District.
Through the campaign, Puma will conduct Road Safety training and repaint safety murals at all 12 Primary schools which had undergone training before, it will install Safety infrastructure at Ungindoni primary school, draw new murals at Oysterbay primary school and repaint Puma road safety murals at Mburahati and Bryson primary schools, aiming at educating the drivers as well.
“Schools from Kilimanjaro Region will be identified later after we have completed with Dar es Salaam schools,’’ he commented while adding that after road safety awareness training, the children will be given a chance to participate in a drawing competition relating to road safety and the winner plus the school they represent will be awarded.
“Our target is to reach all Primary schools in the country with this program of Road Safety training,’’ said Mr Tom.
Speaking of the campaign Commander Mpinga said since its inception it has managed to reduce deaths and road accidents by 50 percent in schools where the campaign runs.
"That is why I am calling for more stakeholders to come forward and support the campaign of this kind
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