CEAT conducts 150th Road Safety Programme at St. Paul’s Milagiriya
The milestone 150th Road Safety Programme conducted in schools across Sri Lanka by the country’s top tyre brand CEAT took place at St. Pauls Girl School, Milagiriya recently.
The programme comprising of a presentation on road safety by police officials, a donation of road safety material and equipment to students, a drama on road safety and the distribution of road safety booklets, benefitted 400 students of the school.
The CEAT ‘Road Safety for School Children’ community programme engages students, parents and transport providers, principally school van drivers, and is coupled with the donation of traffic management kits comprising of traffic cones, safety jackets, traffic signs and other aids to the traffic squads in each of the schools visited.
“Road safety has become a hot button issue in Sri Lanka, with alarming statistics of deaths and injuries due to road accidents caused by negligence and non-observance of rules,” said Mr Bishri Latiff, Deputy General Manager Marketing of CEAT Kelani Holdings. “As the manufacturer of products that are closely linked to motoring safety, we decided to do something about this, and launched our Road Safety Programme seven years ago.”
Titled ‘Maga Yana Maga’ the programme initiated in 2009 is committed to create road and traffic safety awareness at school level in the hope of inculcating adherence to road rules among Sri Lankans. This initiative has to date covered Colombo and the Southern, Northern, North Western, Central and Easternregions of the country.
These programmes include presentations by senior retired police officers on road safety rules, pedestrian safety and road etiquette, supported by a moral-centred skit enacted by a cast of actors. Students who participate take an oath to uphold road rules and etiquette in their daily lives.
More than 50,000students have benefited to date from the series of programmes conducted by the company as part of its ‘CEAT Cares’ portfolio of corporate social responsibility initiatives. The company has received very positive responses from many principals, parents, students and police officials for the learning provided to the students.
CEAT Kelani conducted its 100th Road Safety programme in Sri Lanka at Mahinda College, Galle, the75throad safetyprogramme at Siraj Maha Vidyalaya – Akkaraipattu, the 50that Trinity College – Kandy and the 25th at Royal College – Panadura. After each educational programme, the school concerned is encouraged to conduct road and pedestrian safety awareness programmes for students with activities such as competitions and exhibitions.
On one occasion, CEAT conducted a special event at which students from 25 schools from the Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Vavuniya districts participated in a special presentation on road safety.
CEAT Kelani Holdings supplies nearly half of Sri Lanka’s overall requirement of pneumatic tyres and exports about a third of its production to countries in South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East. The company’s manufacturing operations encompass the radial, commercial, motorcycle, three-wheeler and agricultural machinery segments. The CEAT brand accounts for market shares of 30 per cent in the radial segment, 51 per cent in the Truck/Light Truck category, 54 per cent in the 3-Wheeler segment, 22 per cent in the motorcycle segment and 72 per cent in the agricultural tyre category.