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xPupils get fit to help children around the world in UNICEF pilot
Date: 2nd February 2016
Category:
Education, Leisure and Cultural Activities
In its first launch of UNICEF Kid Power project outside of USA, Pupils from 25 schools across Scotland are banding together for the next month to support malnourished children in Malawi.
The Scottish Government is supporting the Unicef Kid Power pilot, which will see approximately 1,000 P6 children across Scotland given a Unicef Kid Power fitness band to monitor their daily levels of exercise.
The initiative encourages children to get active whilst helping to transform the lives of other children around the world. Children are awarded points for the steps they take and these points are then converted into funding, which is used by UNICEF to help buy life-saving food for malnourished children in Pakistan and Malawi. Scotland is the first country to participate in the initiative outside of the USA.
Learning Minister Dr Alasdair Allan and Sport Minister Jamie Hepburn visited Woodlands Primary School in Cumbernauld, one of the 25 schools taking part, to see UNICEF Kid Power in action.
Nicola Ferguson, Head Teacher at Woodlands Primary School, said:
"Kid Power has been a great way of encouraging the children to be more active both through planned physical activity and through their daily lives. This has benefited their own health and well-being while also allowing them to help other children who are in desperate need of food through the nutrition packs.
This has been a very worthwhile pilot and we are keen to embed this within our work, we are already planning on how the rest of the classes can be involved once the initial pilot is over. As a level 2 Rights Respecting School this has strengthened our links with Unicef and our commitment to the promotion of children's rights which underpins the ethos and day to day work of our school."
The hope is for Kid Power to be rolled out across the UK - in UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools and with a focus on Global Citizenship and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
You can keep updated on Twitter by using the hashtag #kidpower.