International Walk to School Month sees hundreds of children cross HCM City streets

Hundreds of children in District 1, HCM City walked to school on October 26 carrying slogans and banners that encourage people to walk more to ease congestion.

Hundreds of children in District 1, HCM City walked to school on October 26 carrying slogans and banners that encourage people to walk more to ease congestion.

 

Children carry banners on the streets on October 26

The event was in response to the International Walk to School Month held at Nguyen Thai Hoc Primary School by the city Traffic Safety Committee, the Department of Education and Training and the AIP Foundation.

The activity aimed to raise awareness about transportation and to create a safe walking environment for the children in the city.

Various slogans and banners promoting walking as a safe, healthy and environmentally-friendly way of getting to school were carried by the children while walking on the streets, under the guidance of the police.

Nguyen Ngoc Tuong, vice head of the city's Traffic Safety Committee, said preventing traffic accidents was a huge challenge for the world and Vietnam. Children were the most vulnerable and join the traffic passively. They are also not properly equipped with knowledge about traffic safety.

  

Hundreds of children walk to school on October 26

Through the programme, Tuong said he hoped to create an active and healthy lifestyle for the children. Moreover, walking will help ease congestion and protect the environment around the schools.

"Ensuring children's safety while in traffic is the responsibility of the families, communities and the authorities," he said.

A survey from the Safe Kids Worldwide non-profit organisation conducted at 37 primary schools in District 1, 5 and 6 of 1,748 children revealed that 33% had some kind of collision during the last six months, with 22.8% having experienced accidents while walking.

The programme will be expanded to other districts in the city.