IIT Madras’ Centre of Excellence for Road Safety Hosts “Principals’ Conclave” to Drive Safer Futures

IIT Madras’ Centre of Excellence for Road Safety organised the “Principals’ Conclave” as part of the ‘Training Young Minds’ project, aiming to enhance road safety awareness among educators.

Principals’ Conclave’ under ‘Training Young Minds Project

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS) hosted a ‘Principals’ Conclave’ under its ‘Training Young Minds’ project, bringing together leaders from educational institutions to discuss and advance road safety education in India. The event facilitated the exchange of ideas and best practices to equip future generations with essential road safety skills.

CoERS has been actively training master trainers including teachers, traffic wardens, and road safety patrol students through activity-based learning (ABL) methodologies. In line with this initiative, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with Ford in August 2024 to strengthen road safety training efforts further.

Principals’ Conclave’ under its ‘Training Young Minds Project

Aligned with this goal, the program emphasises hands-on training to promote responsible driving practices. The trained individuals will, in turn, conduct further training sessions in their respective schools and traffic jurisdictions, creating a ripple effect in improving driving behaviour, adherence to traffic rules, and hazard awareness.

By investing in the education of young drivers, CoERS aims to reduce accidents and foster a safer environment for all road users. The program incorporates interactive methods such as puzzles, crosswords, skits, and painting to enhance engagement and retention. This ‘gamification’ approach ensures that road safety education is both effective and appealing to participants.

The conclave highlighted three key takeaways:

• Integration of activity-based learning approaches into road safety education in schools.
• Exchange of ideas on enhancing road safety awareness among adolescent students.
• Capacity building of teachers to effectively implement road safety programs.

By investing in young drivers' education, CoERS aims to reduce road accidents and foster a safer environment for all road users. The program incorporates interactive learning methods such as puzzles, crosswords, skits, and painting to enhance engagement and retention. This ‘gamification’ approach makes road safety education more engaging and impactful, ensuring that participants develop a lasting interest in responsible driving practices.

Delivering the opening address, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “As a youthful nation, our population is our strength and each fatality has severe socio-economic costs to both families and the nation, which is immeasurable. At IIT Madras, we are extremely happy to support such a noble initiative and feel that schools must take it forward, with larger schools mentoring others.”

Addressing the event, Shunchonngam Jatak Chiru, IAS, Principal Secretary, Transport and Road Safety Commissioner, Government of Tamil Nadu, said, “Over 1.68 lakh people lost their lives in India in 2022. In Tamil Nadu, that number was 17,884, which translates to 49 fatalities a day. This deeply affects the society and we need to look at the reasons behind it. This Conclave must be a call-to-action and each of us must resolve to enable and equip young minds with the required skills to practice safe driving.”

Taking the dais, R Sudhakar, IPS, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Greater Chennai Traffic Police, said,” Young minds can be moulded easily and as we get older, it becomes difficult to impart certain values. If we take small steps to incorporate traffic sense and road safety at the school level, we can definitely witness a change. Our driving behaviour is a result of how we are taught to drive, and just like we can only score in our exams by being firm in the basics, we need to be taught the basics of driving such as rules and signages well.”

Elaborating on the programme, Prof. Venkatesh Balasubramanian, Head, CoERS and RBG Labs, IIT Madras, who is leading this initiative, said, “We believe that driving etiquette and safe driving practices has to be nurtured in our future generation. By training the young minds a skill as part of an activity is bound to be retained by the child. Our scientifically designed process can go a long way in creating impact that will have lasting effects in reducing accidents and fatalities on our roads.”

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