For all you commuters out there, riding our trains may sometimes be a perilous endeavor. This holds especially true during rush hour when it seems to be a warzone inside. Now, the Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) has officially partnered with several schools to advocate for safety and exclusivity on the Light Rail Transit (LRT).

It appears that this is an initiative that promotes inclusivity. The partner schools, for now, are those with PWDs, such as the Marcela Marcelo Elementary School (MMES), Philippine National School for the Blind (PNSB), and Philippine School for the Deaf (PSD). The LRT safety program itself has been dubbed the “KaligtaSakay” and will include seminars on various topics related to keeping everyone protected aboard the trains in any scenario.

The topics covered encompass health and safety training, emergency preparedness, hazard mapping, and basic commuter etiquette. We hope that this reduces insensitive or rude commuters that don’t consider the needs of their fellow riders. As a project under the United National Sustainable Development Goal 11, it’s goal is to slowly make human settlements sustainable, effective, and inclusive to all citizens of this country. No one should be left behind.

“It also aims to support the Department of Education (DepEd)’s Adopt-a-School Program, wherein private entities provide assistance and services to different public schools. LRMC looks forward to the successful roll-out of the KaligtaSakay program to more schools and cities,” it said.

The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was officially signed last Monday by LRMC head of Health, Safety, Environment and Quality Louernie De Sales; MMES Principal IV Reynaldo Yakit; PSD officer-in-charge Principal Shery Funcion; PNSB Special School Principal I Corazon Salvador; and Pasay City Environment and Natural Resources Office Supervising Administrative Officer Ronald Rae Salvador.

With this, we hope that even regular schools will have LRT safety added to their curriculum in order to teach compassion and manners toward the disabled. With small steps like these taking place, the country’s public transport system takes a big leap in the right direction.