Kathmandu, February 20
The Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Basanta Kumar Nembang, says the government needs to incorporate road safety issues in the school curriculum more extensively.
Participating in a panel discussion during the third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Stockholm of Sweden on Thursday, the minister said, “Ninety-seven per cent of primary-school-age children attend school regularly, therefore there is the opportunity to improve children’s knowledge of how to keep safe through greater inclusion of road safety in the national curriculum.”
He also added that the government would build on its successful experience of implementing the law against drunk driving to introduce other road safety measures. “We have a positive experience of effective enforcement of our no alcohol law – we can build on this to improve enforcement of other laws that will help keep children safe, such as speeding, mobile phone use, wearing seatbelts, wearing crash helmets.”
However, the minister noted that difficult terrain posed a threat to the government’s efforts to ensure road safety, stressing effective strategies should be planned considering the local evidence and research.
