ABU DHABI // Subiat Saleh al Mirri, 35, spent part of yesterday morning sketching a road on a cardboard display and building malls and banks from paper at the Future Model School. It might have seemed like child's play, but safety experts said that was exactly the point. Mr al Mirri, a Yemeni teacher at Al Ghazali Model School, was just one of 12 teachers from a dozen schools who was receiving special training at the school on the corner of Airport Road and 15th Street in how to teach road safety to their pupils.
Starting next week they will offer the courses to children aged between six and 10 taking summer courses at their schools - including teaching them how to design their own roads out of paper. The overriding aim is to make it fun for the children to learn lessons such as the importance of wearing seatbelts and holding the hand of an adult while walking on the pavement, among other things. There were 963 deaths on UAE roads last year, down from 1,072 in 2008, according to the Ministry of Interior.
Health officials also say fatal injuries were the leading cause of deaths among children aged 0-14 in the emirate, of which 63 per cent were from traffic accidents. Deaths from traffic accidents fell in the first quarter of this year, and the teachers hope their lessons will help this trend continue. "It is about keeping them safe right now," Mr al Mirri said. "Then they will have a comprehensive awareness of road safety, which they will apply and disseminate to others."
The majority of UAE children have little awareness of road safety, according to Educating Global, the company that developed the lessons. "It is one of the choices for summer school, so we are trying to do it in a way that is both fun and at the same time teaches important lessons to keep children safe," said Roly Hermans of Educating Global, a former New Zealander policeman who has worked as an education officer in schools for 14 years.
The head of the Abu Dhabi Education Council's summer school programme, Abdulla al Harthri, said the council was considering making the lessons part of the regular curriculum. Anees Mohammed, 40, a teacher at the Future Model School, said he would ask parents to attend with their children. "If parents know, then students must know," he said. Manal Refat, 47, another teacher taking the training, added: "I have seen kids walking behind the bus where the drivers cannot see them. If you teach them at a young age, the information is instilled in them."
Similar workshops will be help for teachers in Al Ain today, and tomorrow in Al Gharbia. mchung@thenational.ae
