Campaign for safe school zones for our kids in India
Whose Responsibility Is It?
The Invisible Crisis in Our School Zones
Every morning, millions of parents across India drop their children at the school gate with a silent prayer. But the hazards waiting on that street — reckless traffic, illegal vendors, absent enforcement — are not local accidents. They are a national systemic failure. And they demand a national systemic response.
Every morning, millions of parents across India perform a high-stakes ritual. We drop our children off at the school gate, watching them walk inside with the silent prayer that they return home safe.
But for many, that safety is a fragile illusion.
Recently, while dropping my children off at SRS School on Delhi Road, I observed what parents in every city and town across this country have come to accept as "normal," yet is undeniably dangerous: vehicles driving on the wrong side to save a few seconds, a complete lack of designated parking, and the glaring presence of tobacco and alcohol vendors just steps away from the school gate. This was not an isolated scene. It is a pattern — repeated every morning, outside tens of thousands of schools, from Srinagar to Kanyakumari.
It is time we stop viewing these as isolated annoyances and start identifying them for what they are: systemic failures of urban governance.
The Reality of "Unsafe School Zones"
When we allow a culture of convenience to override the safety of our children, we are failing our most vulnerable citizens. The risks are not theoretical — they are statistical. Every unregulated school gate is a litigation waiting to happen, a tragedy waiting to occur.
The Tobacco Menace
Tobacco sales within 100 yards of an educational institution are explicitly prohibited under national law. Yet, look around any school gate across India. Violations are the rule, not the exception.
COTPA — 100-Yard RuleThe Traffic Chaos
Without designated school bus bays, proper signage, or basic traffic enforcement, the area outside a school becomes a dangerous bottleneck — twice a day, every day.
Motor Vehicles ActSection 6A of COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act) prohibits the sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of any educational institution. The Motor Vehicles Act mandates signage and speed limits near schools. These are not aspirational standards — they are existing legal obligations being flouted daily, in plain sight, with impunity.
Moving From Observation to Action: The PRAN Audit
Policy is only as effective as its enforcement. We cannot hold authorities accountable if we do not have the data to prove the scale of the problem. Individual observations remain anecdotes. Aggregated, verified, community-sourced data becomes evidence.
This is why the PRAN Foundation is launching the Safe School Zone Audit — a national, crowdsourced initiative to map the reality of school safety across India. We are calling upon parents, teachers, and concerned citizens in every district to help us build a comprehensive data set that we will formally present to District Administrations, Municipal Corporations, State Road Safety Committees, and where warranted, to national regulatory bodies.
How You Can Help
Observe
The next time you are near your child's school, take a moment to look critically at the immediate surroundings — vendors, traffic patterns, crossing points, signage.
Document
Note the presence of prohibited vendors (tobacco/alcohol) and traffic hazards (lack of parking, dangerous intersections, absent signage). A photo and a location pin are all we need.
Report
Use our simple digital audit tool — it takes under two minutes to complete. Every submission strengthens the evidentiary record we will place before the authorities.
Our Goal: A Policy Shift, Not Just a Protest
This is not about assigning blame to individuals. It is about creating a replicable, evidence-based model for safe school zone infrastructure that any district in India can adopt. Specifically, we aim to:
- →Use aggregated audit data to demand strict enforcement of existing laws — COTPA and the Motor Vehicles Act — through formal representations to District Administrations, State Governments, and central regulatory authorities.
- →Advocate for a dedicated "Safe School Zone" policy in municipal planning, mandating specific infrastructure: bollards, designated drop-off bays, pedestrian crossings, and strict commercial zoning around every school gate.
- →Publish the audit findings as a formal policy report, submitted to local authorities and made publicly available, so that the safety of our children becomes non-negotiable and measurable.
The safety of our children should not be a matter of luck. It should be a matter of policy.
Join the Safe School Zone Audit
Your two minutes of observation — wherever you are in India — can become safer streets for every child. Parents, teachers, and neighbours: we need you.
Submit Your Audit Report