21/10/2019

Safe School Environments Program

The Safe School Environment program implemented education initiatives (like online training courses for teachers), campaigns like ‘Don’t do it again’ and many infrastructural initiatives as well. For the infrastructural work, the Foundation used a tool called ‘Star Ratings for Schools,’ which was created by the IRAP (International Road Assessment Program) to evaluate the quality of school environments and the infrastructure surrounding the schools for child pedestrians using observational studies that took into account a wide variety of risk factors.

Each school received a rating from 1 to 5 stars according to the safety of the area surrounding the school. The Foundation used this information and results to advocate for infrastructural improvements to local governments in several cities in Argentina. Through meetings and presentations to municipalities, the Foundation emphasized the importance of features like painted cross walks designating where students can cross the street, signs, and speed management systems including traffic lights, speed bumps etc.

The primary achievement of these efforts took place in Guaymallén en the Mendoza Province in Argentina. The study focused on 5 schools in the city who had an average of 3.6 stars before the study. After the recommendations were implemented, all 5 schools had 5 stars and the municipal government decided to implement the same strategies in all 70 schools in the city. In total, there were 22,500 students affected, 690 crosswalks painted, 150 Slow School Zone signs painted, 860 speed reduction systems installed and 150 parking spaces created.

With such commitment demonstrated by local governments, the sustainability of this program has been ensured and the importance of improving accessibility to schools in the region has been reaffirmed.