Schoolchildren lead the way to school in Malmö
Three pilot schools have worked successfully during 2006 in a project whose objective is to decrease the number of school children being driven to school in cars by parents since it would benefit the environment as well as road security and health.During 2006 three pilot schools in Malmö; Kulladalskolan, Risebergaskolan and Ängslättsskolan have worked on an awareness campaign focusing on the schoolchildren’s journey to and from school. In each school, a large map over Europe has been posted. Every morning upon arrival the children tell how they have gone to school that day.
If the way they have gone to school has been done in a sustainable way, the length of the “journey” is added to the existing length and the progress is marked in either walking or cycling terms on the map. Helene Östberg at the Streets and parks department in Malmö tell us that some of the children have already walked as far as from Malmö to Barcelona. To celebrate all sustainable school commuters the Streets and Parks department organized a surprise party for everybody on a rainy winter morning.The school children were met by music and circus artists and everyone who had walked to school were given a shoeshine kit. A winner of a drawing competition on the theme “my ideal way of going to school” was also presented with a sweater with the drawing printed and their class were given some prize money. Helene says ” Clearly the ideal way to go to school viewed by the children is through nature with lots of green and very few cars on the drawings. One of the boys had even drawn his ideal way to go to school was being on a boat”.
