URRENO’s Experience in School Road Safety Education
URRENO has a documented role in the development, implementation and advocacy for road safety education in Ugandan primary schools. Its school road-safety education work dates back to 2003, when URRENO worked with the Transport Research Laboratory under the World Bank-supported PEMSIS project.
The work supported the development of road safety education for Primary 1 to Primary 4. The materials went through government education processes and the programme was subsequently adopted for wider implementation.
Curriculum Roll-out
Through a later CrossRoads Challenge Fund project, supported by the European Union and UK Aid, URRENO expanded the programme beyond the earlier pilot. The documented roll-out covered 180 primary schools in nine regions.
The roll-out included:
- Training 30 Coordinating Centre Tutors from 10 Primary Teachers Colleges through a training-of-trainers approach.
- Training 720 classroom teachers from 180 schools to deliver road safety education.
- Production and distribution of P1-P4 teachers’ guides and learners’ books.
- Production of training manuals, teachers’ resource materials, posters and charts.
- Development of road safety DVDs and a road safety song as learning resources.
Evidence of Impact
A peer-reviewed evaluation of the school road safety education programme reported improvements in pupils’ road-safety skills and behaviours. The evaluation reported a reduction in pupils’ involvement in crashes near their schools from 15% to 5%, equivalent to a 66% reduction.
The evaluation also identified teacher transfers as a sustainability challenge because trained teachers sometimes moved away from the schools where they had received training.
URRENO’s Contribution
URRENO’s contribution to school road safety education has included:
- Development and roll-out of primary-school road safety education materials.
- Training of teachers and education personnel.
- Promotion of practical road-user skills among children.
- Generation of evidence on school road-safety education.
- Advocacy for continued implementation and support.
Why Road Safety Education Matters
Road safety education helps children develop practical knowledge and skills that can support safer behaviour as pedestrians, cyclists and other road users. Integrating road safety into primary education also provides an opportunity to reach children consistently through schools while strengthening the capacity of teachers and education institutions.
URRENO’s experience demonstrates the value of combining curriculum development, teacher training, learning materials, practical road-user skills and evidence-based advocacy to strengthen road safety education.