Thousands of Students Walk to School

Almost 10,000 Nova Scotian students walked to school today, Oct. 8, to mark International Walk to School Day.

"Participating in an event like this reinforces to the students, the importance of taking care of their health and their community," said Premier John Hamm. "Helping our youth to be more active is everyone's responsibility and I thank the principals, teachers and parents for getting so many youth involved in International Walk to School Day."

Premier Hamm and Health Promotion Minister Rodney MacDonald walked with students at Sackville Centennial School, one of 80 schools in the province participating in this year's event.

Sackville Centennial is Nova Scotia's poster school this year to recognize the work employees and students have done to create safe opportunities for their students to be active. Among other initiatives, the school helped ensure that a new sidewalk was built, allowing students to safely walk to school.

International Walk to School Day teaches children how walking, cycling or other active modes of transportation help improve health, reduce air pollution and climate change, and how they can minimize unsafe traffic congestion around schools.

Research conducted in Nova Scotia shows that most youth are not active enough on a daily basis to achieve heath benefits. About 20 per cent of youth are either overweight or at risk of being overweight.

"It's essential that our youth become more active on a daily basis but parents and schools have to help," said Mr. MacDonald. "Educating youth about the importance of being active and providing safe places to do that will go a long way in improving their health and increasing the likelihood that they will lead active lifestyles when they are adults."

International Walk to School Day is an initiative of Active and Safe Routes to School (ASRTS), a national Go for Green program encouraging the use of active modes of transportation to and from school. In Nova Scotia, ASRTS is co-ordinated by the Ecology Action Centre in partnership with the Office of Health Promotion's Sport and Recreation Division.