Road Safety at MLA Academy of Higher Learning

Oct 14, 2017

The MLA Academy of Higher Learning was started in Aug 2006, an offshoot of the  90-year old Malleswaram Ladies Association. It offers courses in B.COM, M.COM and BBM. Ms Santoshi Ramu, Professor and Coordinator, got in touch with us after the voice clips were aired on Red FM during the campaign against potholes last month. The Academy was keen to do a session on Road Safety as a part of Institutional Social Responsibility Initiative.

Our session was scheduled for 12:30 PM – after the classes on Saturday. We had a sizable attendance with over 150 students. The children were probably eager to get home! So when Ms Santoshi began the session saying “please be attentive for the next 1 hour and 30 min”, there were groans from the audience!

Shubhangi assured them, that we would make it worth their while, and not keep them for 90 min.

And indeed, once the session started, there was a good engagement from the audience.  Shubhangi’s appeal touched them in many ways. And in the end, they came forward to share.
* A student shared about her uncle’s accident.
* Another girl felt overwhelmed with the emotion talking about her mother urging her to take care on the road
* The staff remembered 2 promising students, and how the promise was snuffed out due to road accidents. In a way, our road safety session was a tribute to those departed souls, and a call to action and defensive driving to the students.
* And a girl came forward to say that she felt the time was most well spent!

As usual, we ended with the pledge. We always emphasize that the pledge to drive safely is a promise to oneself. It was heartening to see the students come forward to sign the pledge.

Thank you Ms Santoshi for the opportunity to spread the word on Road Safety, and to all the students and staff for their participation.