HCM CITY — Nearly 1,000 children and teachers took part in the “Children Have Fun with Road Safety” festival at Lê Lợi Primary School in HCM City’s Nhà Bè District on Thursday as part of the Helmets for Families programme run by the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation.

Students and volunteers participated in road safety games, paintings and helmet-wearing demonstrations to reinforce previous road safety education delivered by AIP.

“These festivals are a great opportunity for students to learn outside of the classroom, especially about traffic safety to protect their lives and others’,” Lê Thanh Hải, deputy head of the Nhà Bè District Education and Training Division, said.

The festival culminated in an exhibition of pictures of helmets drawn by students and the announcement of awards.

Earlier the foundation worked with health professionals from Chợ Rẫy Hospital to develop an educational video to raise teachers and parents’ awareness.

Five hoardings were erected at focus areas, and more than 13,000 handheld fans, 6,756 rulers and 6,756 booklets with the Helmets for Families logo were distributed to students at 10 targeted primary schools and their parents and to patients at the Củ Chi, Hóc Môn, Nhà Bè District, Paediatric 2, and Chợ Rẫy Hospitals.

Mirjam Sidik, CEO of AIP Foundation, said: “We are excited to continue implementing more interactive approaches to learning such as festivals and extracurricular days at school.”

The programme is supported by global healthcare company Abbott, and is run in co-ordination with the HCM Cityy Traffic Safety Committee and Department of Education and Training.

Douglas Kuo, general manager of Abbott in Vietnam, said the Helmets for Families programme has provided more than 25,000 quality helmets to students and teachers at 21 schools and nearly 15,000 helmets to parents with subsidies and through exchange in the last six years. VNS