With the certification of Marulas Central, Parada and Pasolo Elementary Schools as Safe School Zones last December 15, Valenzuela City, in partnership with Safe Kids Worldwide Philippines, Inc. (SKWP) and with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), is now one step closer to accomplishing its vision for safer and healthier Valenzuela roads for all children.

Speaking during the unveiling and turnover ceremony of the Safe School Seals, Mayor REX Gatchalian expressed his gratitude to Safe Kids and UNICEF for the Child Road Traffic Injury Prevention (CRTIP) Program.

“Making Valenzuela child-friendly starts not just at home, but in the school, which serves as [the children’s] second home. ... And what better way to show the people that we genuinely care about the children, than making their schools road-safe,” Mayor REX said.

He thanked SKWP and UNICEF for the innovative, one-of-a-kind infrastructure project that would ensure the roadside safety of the public school children.

Also present during the ceremony were District 1 Councilor Niña Lopez, City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) Head Ms. Dorothy Evangelista, Department of Education (DepEd) Valenzuela City Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Meliton Zurbano, the Safe Kids Worldwide Philippines team led by Officer-in-Charge Dr. Portia Fernandez-Marcelo, and school and barangay representatives from Marulas, Parada, and Pasolo.

New partnerships

In 2019, the City Government of Valenzuela inked a five-year partnership with UNICEF in its 8th Country Program for Children. The two parties agreed to work together towards the further advancement of children’s rights.

Recognizing that road safety is a shared responsibility, Valenzuela City began its collaboration with SKWP also in 2019.

Safe Kids Philippines is a non-government organization concerned with the prevention of “unintentional road traffic injuries, drowning, falls, burns, and poisoning” among children 14 years old below. 

Since the start of the partnership, the three have been working hand in hand to make the journey of every child safer going to and coming from school through the CRTIP program.

Unsafe road conditions

A study conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority revealed that roughly 12,000 of the deaths in 2017 were attributed to road traffic crashes. Of this number, 500 of the fatalities were children.

In 2019, the Metro Manila Accident Reporting and Analysis System (MMARAS) recorded a total of close to 122,000 road crashes, with 1,643 cases coming from Valenzuela City.

Despite ranking  4th among the cities in the National Capital Region with the least number of road-related accidents, Valenzuela City still deems it but necessary to work towards the improvement of unsafe road conditions.

CRTIP program explained

CRTIP’s goals are to create a better walking environment in the City’s 41 elementary schools and strengthen Valenzuela’s road traffic safety programs. To achieve these goals, a CRTIP project is made up of three key elements: engineering, enforcement, and education.

The engineering component of the project involves the building of infrastructure, painting of crosswalks and installation of road and warning signage that would help improve the walking environment of the schools in the city. It likewise highlights how engineering and innovations can aid in the significant reduction of the number of road traffic crashes and injuries. 

On the other hand, the enforcement component sees to it that all policies and ordinances for the road safety of children are strictly followed.

While the education component endeavors to teach the children and their caregivers about various traffic rules and the proper way of using the roads. It also aims to equip the children, parents, teachers, and barangay personnel to respond ably to road safety issues and/or injuries. 

From among all the public elementary schools in the city, Marulas Central, Parada, and Pasolo Elementary School were chosen as the pilot schools to model the CRTIP Program being enforced at the moment. These schools were selected as they have shown the biggest potential to become better in the area of pedestrian safety.

Assessment of schools was carried out using the Stars Rating for Schools (SR4S) system. The SR4S tool is described as the “first-ever systematic and evidence-based tool for measuring, managing, and communicating the risk children are exposed to on school journeys”.  The tool was developed by the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP).

Mayor’s commitment

Mayor REX shared that implementing the CRTIP program in the remaining public elementary schools in the City is already in the pipeline but plans had to be postponed when the COVID-19 outbreak hit the country.

“My commitment to you is that, the moment the veil of pandemic dissipates, we will keep on expanding [the CRTIP project] until all of our school get their own [Safe School] Seals,” Mayor REX vowed. He also assured that the rest of the public schools in the City will be retrofitted with safety engineering interventions once the pandemic is over and face-to-face classes resume.

According to the local chief executive, he does not mind spending for the project and even disclosed that he intends to use the Local School Board funds for it.

“We just had to scale down a little as people might wonder why we are we pumping the school with infrastructure when we all know that the children are studying from home. And there are pressing needs like buying tablets for the online classes of students... [But] the moment we see a glimmer of hope that our children can already go back to school, I assure you that we will sit down and fund the project immediately,” declared Mayor REX.