UNICEF Pilots Road Safety Programme for Mumbai School Children

In a landmark first for Mumbai, UNICEF and the Centre for Advocacy and Research (CACR) have jointly implemented a year-long pilot project titled "Strengthening Road Safety for Children and Adolescents" across schools in BMC's K-East Ward, Andheri. Running from February 2025 to March 2026, the initiative set out to address the deeply inadequate road safety conditions surrounding Mumbai's municipal schools — equipping teachers, students, and communities with the knowledge, tools, and institutional support needed to make school zones safer for every child.

Overview of the Road Safety Pilot Project in Mumbai

A Collaborative Framework for Child Road Safety

The pilot project was implemented with the active support of the BMC Education Department and was grounded in a framework developed by the Centre for Environmental Education. Its objectives were clear and multi-dimensional: to raise awareness among all stakeholders about road safety risks faced by children, to help schools systematically identify areas requiring improvement, and to promote healthcare and support-seeking behaviour among students navigating unsafe road environments daily.

Over the course of the project, 34 municipal schools across the K-East Ward were enrolled, collectively reaching 2,609 students. The initiative trained 57 teachers as Road Safety Ambassadors and equipped 94 student peer leaders as Road Safety Messengers — creating a self-sustaining network of safety advocates embedded within the schools themselves. This peer-led model ensures that road safety knowledge does not remain confined to a single programme cycle but continues to flow through classrooms and communities long after the pilot concludes.

School Road Safety Audit — Key Findings

Infrastructure Deficiencies Posing Serious Risks to Students

In August 2025, a comprehensive School Road Safety Audit was conducted across all 34 enrolled municipal schools in the K-East Ward. The findings painted a concerning picture of the road environment surrounding Mumbai's municipal schools — one defined by systemic infrastructure gaps that place children at unnecessary risk every time they travel to and from school.

Critical Gaps Identified Across School Zones

The audit identified several recurring and serious deficiencies across school zones in the ward:

• Absent or invisible school zone signage: Most schools lacked clearly visible "School Zone" signboards, speed limit indicators, or distance warning signs — leaving approaching drivers with no visual cue to reduce speed or exercise caution near school gates.

• Damaged and encroached footpaths: Footpaths in school zones were frequently found to be missing, damaged, or encroached upon by vendors and parked vehicles, forcing children and other pedestrians to walk on the road itself — a hazardous practice that dramatically increases accident risk.

• Traffic congestion during school hours: Heavy vehicular congestion during student arrival and dispersal times created dangerous conditions at school gates, compounded by random parking and the complete absence of designated drop-off or pick-up zones.

These findings underscore a reality that urban planners, traffic authorities, and school administrators must confront urgently: the road environment immediately surrounding schools is among the most dangerous in any city, and Mumbai's K-East Ward is no exception.

Road Safety Ambassadors and Messengers Programme

Training Teachers as Long-Term Safety Advocates

At the heart of the project's implementation strategy is a recognition that sustainable road safety change requires people — not just infrastructure. To this end, 57 teachers across the 34 enrolled schools have been trained and designated as Road Safety Ambassadors, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to integrate road safety education into their daily interactions with students and to advocate for infrastructure improvements within their school communities.

Student Peer Leaders as Road Safety Messengers

Complementing the teacher-led component, 94 student peer leaders have been trained and empowered as Road Safety Messengers — young advocates who carry road safety knowledge directly to their peers through structured engagement. These student messengers have already conducted 180 sessions, collectively reaching over 2,600 students across the ward. The peer-to-peer model is particularly powerful in a school context: when children learn road safety from fellow students rather than adults alone, the messages are received with greater openness and are more likely to be reinforced through daily social interaction.

School Safety Committees and Community Engagement

Institutional Structures for Sustained Safety Coordination

To ensure that road safety improvements are not dependent on any single individual or external programme, the initiative has established School Safety Committees (SSC) in all 34 enrolled schools. These committees serve as permanent institutional bodies responsible for identifying safety concerns, coordinating with traffic police and local authorities, and driving follow-up action on audit findings.

Since their establishment, the School Safety Committees have already convened 144 meetings — a level of activity that reflects genuine institutional engagement rather than token compliance. The committees bring together school administrators, teachers, parent representatives, and community members, creating a multi-stakeholder forum that is well-positioned to advocate for road safety improvements at the ward level and beyond.

Expert Voices on Safer School Zones

Gorakhnath Bhavri, Administrative Officer (Schools), K-East Ward, was unequivocal about the urgency of the challenge. Safer school environments and improved traffic management during arrival and dispersal hours are not optional enhancements — they are essential. The audit findings confirm that basic road safety infrastructure around many schools in the K-East Ward is inadequate and requires coordinated support from traffic police and local authorities to address effectively.

Surekha Marathe, Headmistress of Marol Police Camp Marathi Municipal School, highlighted the transformative potential of the peer leader and ambassador model. Both student messengers and teacher ambassadors have been equipped to serve as long-term road safety advocates within their schools — forming the backbone of student engagement and cascading road safety knowledge through classrooms and communities in a way that no external programme alone could sustain.

Impact and Outcomes at Nityanand Municipal School

Tangible Changes on the Ground

The project's impact is already visible in concrete, measurable improvements at participating schools. At Nityanand Municipal School, located adjacent to the Western Express Highway — one of Mumbai's busiest arterial roads — the audit identified the absence of speed breakers and dangerous traffic congestion caused by a single shared entry and exit gate as critical safety hazards.

Following targeted intervention, speed breakers, zebra crossings, and school zone signboards were installed near the school. Separate entry and exit gates were introduced to manage student movement safely during peak hours, eliminating the dangerous bottleneck that had previously placed hundreds of children at risk every school day.

This outcome at Nityanand Municipal School illustrates what becomes possible when audit findings are acted upon swiftly and collaboratively — and provides a compelling proof of concept for scaling the model across all of Mumbai's municipal school zones.