i193.photobucket.com - A project banning motorcycles at two secondary schools has increased student safety and encouraged equality, according to the Borikhamxay Provincial Education Department. Pakxan and Sithanaxay secondary schools are located in Pakxan town, an urban area of the province. Four years ago authorities decided to trial a ban on students riding motorcycles to these two schools, to see if it would reduce the number of accidents involving students. The trial was so successful that authorities are considering expanding it to other areas of the province. Education department Director, Ms Bounnhong Sisouvannaphone, said not all parents were enthusiastic about the idea when it was first suggested. But now she says the results speak for themselves: there have been no motorcycle accidents involving students from the two schools since the project began. The policy was implemented shortly after the death of a schoolboy who crashed after he was riding his motorcycle while holding onto another student’s motorcycle. Students who live more than 10km from the school are allowed to ride motorcycles to school, but all other students have to use other modes of transport, such as bicycles. The school is also promoting traffic education by inviting traffic police to speak at the school twice a year about the importance of following the road rules. They educate the students about the dangers of having too many passengers on motorcycles and riding motorcycles side by side. In addition to improving student safety, the policy has also reduced class divisions among poor and rich students. Some students used to feel ashamed to ride their bicycles to school if their friends were riding motorcycles. This made it difficult for parents who could not afford to buy their children motorcycles, or spend extra money on petrol. Some students even refused to go to school without a motorcycle and parents were forced to borrow money or sell land in order to buy them one. Mr Luang, 49, has a son in his second year at Pakxan Secondary School. He said the policy had produced positive results in both schools. “Before the department introduced this policy my son did not want to go to school if he did not have a motorcycle,” he said. “I had to tell my son that he could leave the school because I did not have enough money to buy it for him. After this policy was introduced he changed his mind and now rides to school on his bicycle.” The province has 12 secondary schools and 35 lower secondary with 21,000 students. Ms Bounnhong said the education department was considering expanding the policy to schools throughout the province. She said students at schools in urban areas were at greater risk of being in motorcycle accidents.