Sincere on its commitment to support the road safety advocacy for students initiated by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) V, the Department of Education Regional Office V has finally opened its doors in the integration of the Students Today, Road Users of Tomorrow or STRUT Project in the K-12 curriculum.

On November 6, 2017, LTO V and DepED V has officially entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the integration of the said project in school curriculum for the purpose of strengthening their advocacy in raising road safety awareness to students to lower cases of road accidents. The said MOA signing was conducted at the Atrium of Robinsons Place Naga City with the high ranking officials present at the said event. Along with the said activity was the launching and distribution of the STRUT Module which will be used by the teachers in conducting lectures on road safety.

Started as a simple road safety advocacy program for the youth, especially on schoolchildren in the year 2014, where LTO conducted series of visits on selected schools to provide lectures on the aspects of road safety, now the STRUT program has made it to a higher level were the advocacy will be integrated in the different subjects being taught in schools.

Curriculum and Learning Management Division Chief Heidi Bolivar, member of the STRUT technical team from DepED V, explained that DepED and LTO have developed twelve modules that can be taught under the subjects Araling Panlipunan, Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga, English, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management in Senior High School Program. The modules will serve as reference in teaching road safety in schools. She added that DepED will now facilitate the program integration in the K-12 Curriculum in the Bicol Region.

During the official launching of the STRUT program, Regional Director Ramon Fiel Abcede in his opening remarks personally expressed his appreciation to the proponent of the project as he believed that safety does not happen by accident and that there must be a conscious effort from every one – from LTO, LTFRB, DepED, and LGUs because children should not be denied of their protection.
“What better way to inculcate road safety awareness is through education. All these modules find its way to our classrooms, and we hope that this intervention will start to make ripples, if not waves towards our dream of safety to everyone. And we hope too, that this partnership between the Department of Education and LTO will lead to more fruitful collaborations,” Abcede said.
Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary Jose Galvante and Regional Director Noreen San-Luis Lutey of the Land Transportation Office V who was also present during the launching of the program expressed their gratitude to DepED for actively supporting the development of the said program, longing to establish a strong partnership with the agency for the upcoming years.

Piloting the implementation of the STRUT program are selected schools in the 13 Schools Division Offices of DepEd Bicol, especially the SDO of Camarines Sur. DepED projects full implementation of the program in the SY 2018-2019.