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| (Photo Credit: ClipArt Panda) |
The school season has already begun, and Filipino children on their
school uniforms are walking and traversing across the road all the way to school
but alongside speeding vehicles. And these dangerous modes of transportation
are no laughing matter, for they could be the reason why hundreds of Filipino
children die or get injured every year due to road crashes based on data from
the World Health Organization.
This makes pretty much sense why the Philippines recently observed
National Safe Kids Week last June 18-24, 2017. For this year's celebration which
marked its tenth year anniversary, the focus is on three main goals: education,
enforcement, and engineering.
Dr. Jocelyn Yambao-Franco, president of Safe Kids Worldwide
Philippines, explained the benefits of these three main goals. She stated that
through education, students will be more aware of pedestrian roads; through
proper enforcement of road rules by authorities, less road crashes will be
avoided; and through good design and engineering of roads, injuries will be
avoided as well.
By the way, Safe Kids Worldwide Philippines (SKWP) is considered as one
of the main driving forces on why the Philippines is celebrating National Safe
Kids Week every year and the special event was made possible by virtue of
Presidential Proclamation No. 1307 which was signed by former Philippine
president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. To mark the celebration of the event's 10th year
anniversary, SKWP invited selected schools from various parts of Metro Manila
and nearby areas as well as representatives from the government and private sector
for a special event held at the SM Mall of Asia Arena last June 22, 2017.
