BAC GIANG PROVINCE, Vietnam — October 23, 2020

Northeast of Vietnam, lying along the Red River Delta is Bac Giang Province, a picturesque area known for its connection to cities like Hanoi and Quang Ninh. Yet, Bac Giang is also known for its consistently high rate of road crashes, with the unenviable position of ranking among the top 10 in Vietnam, and where 26 ethnic minority groups call “home.” Two project schools in the Province will begin comprehensive road safety training for both students and school administrators as part of the SAFE STEPS KIDS (SSK) program.

Tu Lan Primary School and Tan Tien Primary School are directly connected to major highways with high volumes of traffic every day. These highways are also the route 90% of parents and students use to get to and from school, yet even with such high risks of fatalities or serious injuries, the helmet-wearing rate recorded was extremely low pre-intervention.

AIP Foundation organized an orientation workshop and training where more than 1,500 helmets were distributed to students and teachers. As part of the workshop and training, the Foundation covered valuable traffic safety education including updated laws and regulations on helmet use and pedestrian safety, how to identify standard helmets, proper helmet use with practice sessions, and roles of teachers as beneficiaries and as facilitators of the project. The second part of the workshop included a hands-on session led by a teacher of Tu Lan primary school on how to incorporate road safety education into classrooms.

“Road injuries and fatalities are more common than not. Every morning, when a student approaches the gate coming off their parents’ motorbike without a helmet, I always worry about the one day they are late or aren’t present at school. As an educator, I fear for my students’ safety and I’d hate to be there one morning to find out something tragic has happened to my students when wearing a helmet can save their life or at least reduce or minimize severe injuries,” Nguyen Thi Van, headmaster at Tu Lan Primary School professed.

In addition to students and school administrators, representatives from the Traffic Safety Committee of Bac Giang Province and Viet Yen District and the Department of Education and Training were also in attendance.

The SSK program, supported by Prudential Vietnam, aims to increase traffic safety knowledge and skills among primary school students in Bac Giang and Dak Lak Provinces to better protect them from road crashes as well as raise road safety awareness nationwide via communication campaigns.