In early December 2014, Teach UAE Magazine met with the students of year 4A and their vivacious teacher, Mr. Nick Gastaldi at Raffles World Academy in Dubai. Under the careful guidance of Mr. Gastaldi and with the kind assistance of Mr. Damien Marshall, their IT Coordinator, these students embarked on a meaningful campaign to highlight the importance of using seat belts in the UAE.
The students are working towards effecting positive change in society, by helping to improve the current poor attitudes towards seat belt safety by encouraging other students in schools across the UAE to take the Seat Belt Pledge and join in the Seat Belt Safety Campaign. Their aim is to get their message to the relevant government officials, in order to implement more stringent laws, which would help to save more lives from road fatalities within the UAE and beyond. Their hope is that by educating others on seat belt safety and how to be safe on the roads, more lives will be saved.
After conducting research, they launched a blog, which they hope students in other schools will read. They have also created several road safety advertisements to further share their message.
This is significant because of the potency of the message. Additionally, they are acutely aware of the dangers that result from neglecting to use seat belts and the improper use of child car seats.
Below are students’ responses to questions about their project:
Why is seat belt safety important to you?
Seat belt safety is important to us because we want to be safe. There are car accidents in the UAE everyday and we want a safer community.
What activities did you enjoy most when doing the project?
The activities we enjoyed are:
- Making an iMovie
- Reading about seat belt safety
- Making a pledge
- Taking a pledge
- Learning to make a blog
- Creative writing
Tell us three things that you learned from the project that you think other children of your age should know about seat belt safety.
From the different newspaper sources we read, we learned that on average two people die a day in the UAE, due to car crashes and that booster seats are for height not age. We also learned that we need to buckle up at all times.
What would you like this project to achieve?
We are asking the UAE government and police to enact and enforce a Child Car Seat and Seat Belt Safety law to help ensure that children are safe.
We want other students to read our blog and to take the seat belt safety pledge. This will help to spread the message a lot faster and can save more lives.
To learn more about this project and to take the pledge via their blog, check out their video and blog via this link: http://rwagrade4a.edublogs.org
The Seat Belt Pledge
“I pledge to wear my seat belt. I pledge to make my family buckle up. I pledge to teach my friends seat belt safety rules. I pledge to be a role model for seat belt safety. Seat belt safety is cool. So learn the rule! Seat belt safety rules so learn to be cool!”
Grade 4A have spoken. Help them to put an end to children travelling in vehicles without being properly strapped into a car seat, booster seat or seat belt. Promote safety on the roads throughout the Emirates by encouraging everyone to wear a seat belt.
