Assign staff to help students cross roads
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said educational institutions up to higher secondary level must assign their own staff to make sure their students cross roads safely.
"Though traffic police will be there to help them, the school authorities must be careful and their own staff will have to be there so that students can cross roads safely … I think our education ministry can issue a directive to the schools -- from primary to higher secondary levels -- in this regard," she said.
The PM said this while inaugurating the four newly constructed projects implemented under the Road Transport and Highways Division, joining a programme virtually from the Gono Bhaban.
The projects are: Pedestrian Underpass adjacent to Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College on Dhaka Airport Highway, Sylhet City Bypass-Garrison Link 4-lane Highway, Balukhali (Cox's Bazar)-Ghundhum (Bandarban) Border Link-Road, and 500-metre Bridge over the Chengi river in Rangamati's Naniarchar.
The PM asked the education ministry to take initiatives for directing every educational institution up to higher secondary level to keep its staff on adjacent road points to help students and prevent the loss of lives to accidents.
Because, she said, students are reluctant about paying heed to the instructions of others in many cases. "If there's anyone from the school authorities, they'll follow his or her instructions," she said, adding that every school will take the initiative on their own.
Hasina asked the students to follow traffic rules during their movement on roads. "In every school and college, students should be taught about traffic rules from their very childhood. Every school, college and university will have to take this step."
She asked people not to attack car drivers soon after any accident. It might lead to further accidents when the driver would try to escape the attack.
"There's a tendency to do that in our country. If any accident takes place, all start beating the driver and, in some cases, drivers are killed in such mob attacks," she said, adding that it needs to be considered and found out the reasons behind an accident.
Pointing at the pedestrians, the PM said everyone needs to have knowledge about traffic rules and follow those.
On August 12, 2018, Hasina laid the foundation of the underpass after Diya Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib, first-year students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College, were killed as a bus ploughed into some students in front of Kurmitola General Hospital in the capital on July 29.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader was present at the virtual event conducted by PM's Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus.
Chief of Army Staff SM Shafiuddin Ahmed, Secretary of Road Transport and Highways Division Nazrul Islam and Engineer in Chief of Bangladesh Army Major General Ibne Fazal Shayekhuzzaman spoke on the occasion.
The projects were implemented by the army.
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