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A ‘ Jam ‘ with a different flavor...
The nuisance of traffic jam near schools.
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Unregulated traffic …plying everywhere
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In an atmosphere where you read articles about victimization of students by schools wanting to join the race of ‘merit list
machines status, it is heartening to know about schools and teachers who are able to evolve strategies for diverse needs of
learners. One popular strategy is project method/problem solving method, worked out as a group activity, with aim to encourage
each student to light a candle though at his own pace rather than to curse the darkness.
The project/problem solving method is well utilized by Ms.
D’Souza, a veteran in education, teaching the middle school students
of ‘Doveton Girls Matriculation School’. The school enrolls about 2000 students from the lower and middle lower economic
classes. It is situated at Doveton Junction in Chennai, South India.
Chennai, one of the prominent dots on map of India (along with Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai) is in news, as an effort is being made to regulate its water shortage, by setting up
of a desalination plant, by the present government. This town offers educational institutes of high merit and rarely disappoints
shoppers.
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The project was born out of a problem-faced daily, by students. The school is strategically located in a junction where 8
schools are in the lane suitably called “school zone”. As each school has strength of 2000, the road is inundated with school
children and vehicles. Means to commute are cycles and two wheelers though few are pedestrians too.
The teacher rightly points out “ each one wants to reach the school on time and rush in the last minute.” In the early school hours
the school zone is crowded with vehicles plying up and down. She remarks, “at the top of it, the traffic is unregulated. It is total
chaos between 0800 a.m. and 0830 a.m. again the story is relived in between 0330 and 0430 p.m.”
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As a sensitive citizen, she is alarmed by the sound, noise pollution and the high risk of accidents. In this backdrop,
Ms. D’souza motivated and engaged them .She asked the students of standard eight, to analyze the problem gingerly. Aberrant to the
conventional set up of classroom learning, rote model and exam oriented pattern, she decided to experiment with a project
based learning method. The effectiveness of such a trial was immense, as after completing the project, in her words,” Students
acquired skills like -observation, analytical, creative, presentation, language, demonstrative, communication and application skill”.
To make the task easy, she explains how she went about it. She called for a meeting and presented the existing problem. As told
by her, “Students were divided into groups of five and worked on varying
strategy. The big picture was broken into
small elements and each team had decided to focus on one element to contribute to the big picture.”
One of the teams recorded the number of vehicle plying on the street, number of commuters on the road, number of accidents
occurring, and cause for the same, for a week. The data was tabulated and presented in the graph form for discussion and analysis.
Ms.D’souza was elated,” students had hands on experience, though they were part of the problem throughout, this was the first
time they had approached it with positive frame of mind.”
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Students interviewing the traffic Inspector
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The other team organized an interview with the traffic police Inspector to understand the basic regulations, signs and symbols
used by them. They learnt the nuances and presented a demo for the rest of the students. In the light of the learning, students
were able design and evolve a strategy to streamline the traffic.
Teams also visited the office of ‘The Deputy Commissioner Of Police ‘(traffic) at the ‘Vepery Police station’. They got information
about the R.S.P., which is a unit of the ‘Chennai City Police Traffic Warden Organization’.
They got educated on the aims, functions and the organization of the
R.S.P. The emblem, the Motto and the colour of the uniform were shown for retention. |
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The programme on the training of the
R.S.P. cadets, the forming of the cycle clubs and the necessity of such community service was highlighted. |
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Members of the teams visited the’ Traffic Park’. They gained hands on experience on the basic road signs and the
significance of obeying them. The learning was for a great cause and with proper use of technology; teams could get their point across to all
commuters. Children collected accident data from newspaper clippings and from the Internet. They analyzed the data and
inferred from it, the type of vehicles involved in accidents, the common time of occurrence (peak hours/non-peak hours), and
the age group that falls a victim to accidents. The figures were organized into a graph with the help of
MS Excel.
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The result was smart alternatives chalked out by students themselves, some of them being:
- Organisation of the Traffic, within the school premises, from the” IN” gate to the “OUT” gate to avoid congestion near the gates.
- Preparation of the school campus plan and display of placards using signs and symbols to guide students and visitors.
- Convincing the management to change school working hours for smooth regulation of traffic and ensured safety of the children.
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