‘Walk-to-school’ campaign seen bearing fruit
Taipei, March 31 (CNA) A government-initiated campaign that urges young people to maintain a “dynamic lifestyle” and keep active has seen some measure of success in its efforts to encourage students to walk to and from school, according to Ministry of Education (MOE) statistics.
The MOE launched the campaign in 2005, then expanded it last year to 44 junior high schools and elementary schools around Taiwan.
According to MOE statistics, among the 48,000 students who have joined the “walking to school” campaign, the percentage of junior high school students who walk to school every day has risen since last November from 27.08 percent to 30.76 percent, while the percentage of elementary school students has increased from 33.27 percent to 45.73 percent.
Taipei Municipal Xinglong Elementary School is at the forefront of the effort, with some 86.5 percent of its 1,000 students walking to school regularly, according to the principal Cheng Chou-kuei Monday.
Cheng said that the campaign has also led to weight loss among some teachers and students. Some teachers have dropped the habit of driving to school and now commute by bicycle or bus, she added.
According to a report released by the MOE on the physical fitness of the more than 2 million students in elementary and high schools in the 2007 academic year, only 65.36 percent attained the lower limits of physical fitness standards.
The walk-to-school campaign was introduced in the hope that students will develop the habit of exercising regularly, said Wang Chun-chuan, director of the MOE Department of Physical Education.
Apart from that, the MOE has also directed the schools to come up with various other methods of encouraging students to exercise, Wang added. (By Elizabeth Hsu)
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