School starters are encouraged to walk with a comic and medals
The campaign "I walk! I can do it" campaign encourages children to walk to kindergarten independently. Launched in 2019 in the Baden AG region, the campaign is now being carried out in over 50 municipalities, including outside the canton of Aargau.
The new school year starts on Monday in most districts of Aargau. This is a big step not only for the first graders, but also for the kindergarten children. After a certain introductory period, they face the challenge of making their own way from home to kindergarten.
To achieve this, they are supported by police officers. Members of the Aargau regional police force regularly visit schools and kindergartens. They show them how to cross the road safely. "Wait, wait, wait, run", explains Roger Schneider from Repol Zurzibiet.
Comic by Globi illustrator
In many of the 50 or so participating municipalities, children and parents received a school route comic - together with the timetable - before the summer vacations, drawn by Zurich Globi illustrator Samuel Glättli. "It explains, for example, that the safest and not the fastest route should be chosen," says Schneider.
Once the kindergarteners have completed their traffic lessons - after the start of the school year - there is another highlight: the traffic instructors present them with a magnetic illuminated medal with the words "I can do this. I walk on foot".
"This can be attached to the luminous ribbon or the luminous vest," says Schneider. And it should also motivate the children to walk to school on their own.
20,000 children reached annually
Following the launch in the Baden region, the municipalities in the neighboring district of Zurzach have also been involved in the campaign for some time. Together with the municipality of Köniz BE and three municipalities in the canton of St. Gallen, according to the website Icandothat.ch The campaign reaches around 20,000 children every year. (SDA/swi)
