Project Raste ki Pathshala
Road Safety Education for School Children, Nanded 2023
Overview
Raste ki Pathshala (RKP) is a road safety awareness initiative designed to educate school children and teachers on essential traffic rules and safe road practices. Developed and implemented by VOPA's District Expansion Team in partnership with the Regional Transport Office (RTO) and the Collectorate Office in Nanded, the programme created a 21-chapter multimedia course covering road safety topics from pedestrian rules to motor vehicle insurance. The course was integrated into the district's Digital Friday initiative, ensuring every school in Nanded had regular access. An independent baseline-endline impact study confirmed measurable improvements in students' practical road safety knowledge within a single intervention cycle.
The Problem
Lakhs of school children commute daily using various modes of transport and routinely face traffic situations they are unprepared for. Students lacked correct, authentic information on road safety in Marathi, putting their lives at risk. There was no structured, curriculum-aligned road safety education available through the public school system in the district.
The Solution
VOPA collaborated with the RTO Nanded to develop and deliver a structured, tech-enabled road safety curriculum. Twenty RTO officers were trained to create video content. The resulting 21-chapter course was uploaded on the V-School platform and made freely available to all students and teachers across the state. Cluster Heads were directed to organise training workshops; teachers taught one lesson per week using the Digital Friday framework; students completed at least 30 minutes of practice per lesson; and parents were trained to support home learning through the V-School app. The course was formally launched by Guardian Minister Hon. Girish Mahajan.
Implementation
Baseline survey conducted on 16 September 2023 across 10 purposively selected schools, covering 977 students in Grades 3-10 with a 20-question road safety questionnaire. An 8-week intervention phase ran from late September to late November 2023, with teachers delivering two lessons per week per grade band. A district-level review meeting chaired by the District Collector and RTO was held on 26 September 2023 to align all stakeholders. The endline survey was conducted on 13 December 2023, covering 858 students using the same questionnaire. The VOPA team monitored data collection across multiple schools. The programme reached 524 schools across Nanded district through the Digital Friday integration.
21-chapter multimedia road safety curriculum, developed with 20 trained RTO officers, made freely available to all schools statewide through V-School.
Scale & Reach
Partnerships
Impact
Peak gain: Safe crossing of the road
- Students understanding safe use of zebra crossings: 62% to 91%
- Largest single-question gain in the entire assessment
- Directly addresses one of the most common pedestrian accident causes
Peak gain: Left is the driver's side in India
- Students knowing left is the driver's side in India: 52% to 71%
- Critical knowledge for safe pedestrian and cyclist behaviour
- Improvement consistent across both grade bands
Peak gain: Walking on the right side of the road
- Students knowing to walk on the right side: 56% to 65%
- Foundational pedestrian safety rule, especially for rural road users
- Reinforced across all grade-band lessons
Peak gain: Importance of wearing a seatbelt
- Students understanding seatbelt importance: 62% to 83%
- Included in dedicated car safety chapter for upper grades
- Reflects improved awareness of vehicle occupant safety rules
Case Story
From RTO to Classroom
Twenty RTO officers in Nanded sat down with VOPA's curriculum team to record road safety lessons in Marathi. Within weeks, their videos were being played in classrooms across 524 schools as part of Digital Friday. A child in Grade 3 who had never thought about zebra crossings was now explaining their purpose to her parents. The RTO, who had long wanted a way to reach school children systematically, now had a replicable, tech-enabled model. The District Collector and the RTO jointly signed an appreciation letter recognising VOPA's contribution to societal safety.
Curriculum Video Samples
Sample educational videos developed for the programme
Key Learnings
A structured government-NGO-RTO partnership can deliver curriculum-quality road safety education at district scale within a single term.
Integrating content into an existing school framework (Digital Friday) dramatically reduces adoption friction and ensures regular delivery.
Training government officers as content creators builds institutional ownership and lends authenticity to the material.
Short-cycle baseline-endline assessments are an effective and low-cost way to validate awareness programmes.
Making the course freely available on a public platform creates lasting value beyond the funded intervention period.