Very few of them ever walk to school, but many have been to foreign countries to understand the joy of walking on a well-paved street.
After a three-hour long workshop organised by the Right to Walk Foundation (R2W), students of Meridian School, Banjara Hills went back debating what could be the best way to make the city pedestrian-friendly.
More than 200 students participated in the event — organised in association with The Hindu — which involved lectures, debates and drawing sessions that were aimed at sensitising the children to the need for a safer environment for pedestrians.
“Each road should have a footpath and its width should vary according to the need,” a student said while participating in the debate. When compared to foreign countries, the pedestrian infrastructure in India needs serious improvement, most students observed.
While some suggested increasing road width, others pointed out the need to follow road signage and still others said there was a need to crackdown on wrong parking.
Students also observed that rules weren’t strictly enforced.
“Motorists stop at signals due to the fear of paying a fine and to make roads safer for pedestrians, authorities should increase their vigilance,” another student maintained.
Seeing the tremendous response from the students, school headmistress Rajkamal Matthews said the school would continue the momentum.
“We will conduct more programmes involving children in this campaign,” she said. Pratima Koppolu and Kanti Kannan from R2W conducted the workshop.
