On the Roads, Afterschool!

One thing that Indian kids need to learn about is traffic safety. Two reasons - to be safe on the roads, to help parents (and drivers) be good drivers!

I could not help thinking how useful well-structured traffic education is while attending a few sessions at a driving school. Do children have to be 18 to learn about road signs, about good road etiquette? I think not. We do have a few programmes in India that take traffic awareness to children.

The Chandigarh Traffic Police seems to have a well organized traffic awareness programme for school children. Its infrastructure includes a traffic park where children are "taken for a walk along the driver track and are familiarized with the meaning of different road signs and markings. They are taught to cross the road safely at the zebra crossing and are also taught the operation of the pelican traffic light installed outside some of the schools. The children are explained the meaning and operation of the Automatic Traffic Control Signals and the blinkers. They are taught the simple right of way rules in different situations such as at T-intersections, at the rotary etc."

In Hyderabad too there is a traffic awareness park located at the premises of the Jawahar Bal Bhavan (Public Gardens). However, I am unaware of any organized traffic education programme being run there.

I am sure that most cities (at least the state capitals) would have such facilities - these would be an important part of an afterschool programme.

Afterschool Science at the Museum

Did you know? - the first science museum in the country was set up in 1956 (I do not know yet which one it is!). The National Council of Science Museums has about 25 science museums across the country. Here is a map showing you their locations. Apart from these, there are science 'cities' set up state governments (for example, the Gujarat Science City, the Science City in Chennai). Then there are those set up by independent foundations (the Birla Science Museum in Hyderabad).

The Gujarat Science City has a variety of programmes and facilities for popularizing science. The facilities include exhibit halls on science and space, an energy park, a life science park, etc. The activities include a series of lectures on popular science topics, workshops on science for children, events to mark important days (such as the World Ozone Day), etc. Interestingly, they also have a training module on use of puppetry for science popularization - and a puppetry corner at the science city. The best part is that the science city is open till 9 pm.