A study to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on knowledge regarding road safety among 5th standard children at M.P.E.V E.M school, Visakhapatnam

Background: During 1990's, road traffic injuries ranked with among the leading causes of deaths in the world. About two percent disabilities are reported due to injuries. In the developed nations 57% male deaths and 43% of female deaths in this age group are due to injuries. Mainly traffic accidents and drowning are common. As a result is that today on the highways there seems to be compulsion of any kind of any of the traffic rules and regulations. The road should be maintained in good condition ways, so, it will reduce accidents. Many children receive no road safety education. A survey of over 1000 schools in selected developing countries revealed that less than half taught road safety. Raising awareness of the need for improved such education is not enough. There is need to train teachers in their use. Educate the drivers about the importance of road signs particularly like speed limits and no overtaking zones. While driving never overtake on a left hand because cannot see the vehicle coming in opposite direction. While crossing the road, they should do so at zebra crossing as per as possible and only after making sure that the road is clear. Indian roads are much different from foreign countries. The standards followed by much developed countries are not applied during making of roads in India. Therefore the safety is much less and accidents can occur very frequently. Above all, school going children have very less knowledge regarding road safety. Therefore it is the goal to increase the knowledge and awareness to the children as well as to their parent’s road safety. Objectives of the study: 1. To assess the existing level of knowledge about road safety in 5th standard Children. 2. To improve this knowledge and bring our responsible attitude to their own safety and to the safety of others. 3. To promote their understanding of responsibility required by the rules that influence road traffic. 4. To assess their knowledge of the causes and consequence of road accidents. Methods and materials: A Pre-experimental Research design was used and study was conducted from August 2010 to October 2010 at M.P.E.V.E.M School, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. There is an experimental and control group. All the subjects were given a pre test, received treatment and then the subjects act as their own controls and pre treatment and post treatment data were analyzed for differences. The sample of 40 school children who are present in 5th class at the time of data collection and who met the inclusion criteria were selected by using non probability sampling technique and data were analyzed both descriptively and analytically using frequency, percentage distribution, Chi-Square and paired t test. Result: Majority of school children – 20(60%) had inadequate knowledge on road safety. The mean value obtained for the existing level of knowledge regarding road safety among school children for control group was 34.4 and for experimental group was 35.7. The mean pre test knowledge score was 35.7with Standard Deviation 3.92 and the post test the mean knowledge score was 40.7. Standard deviation 3.45. Paired t test value was -7.56. Conclusion: Majority of the school children was in the age group of 9-12 years, 5th standard children and they are living in clean environmental condition in urban area. The existing knowledge among 5th standard children was moderate regarding road safety. The structured teaching programme on road safety was effective for 5th standard children.