Portsmouth school raises awareness for education in poor countries

Portsmouth High School for Girls in Southsea completed the 10km walk yesterday for Plan-UK’s World Wide Walk.

The school has been doing the event for five years and it raises awareness of the distances girls in the world’s poorest countries have to face go to school and fetch water.

Youngsters from Year 5 to the sixth form took part in the walk from their school in Kent Street, along the esplanade towards Eastney before heading back.

Deputy headteacher Heather Trim, who helped organise the event, said: ‘This is all about the girls and their right to an education.

‘We are walking 10km because that is the distance some girls in other countries have to walk to get to school.

‘Each year has a different theme and that’s what this year is about.

‘The students had an assembly to raise awareness and we had a banner while walking to get across our message.

‘The fact we have more than 400 students walking shows how important we think this issue is.

‘The girls here appreciate their education and have a very strong sense of social responsibility.’

This year’s walk was organised by the school’s Gaskell House. Georgie Howard, 18, the house captain, said: ‘We are walking together to support girls around the world to go to school and be safe in their communities.

‘We hope that we would never take our own education for granted and the walk brings that into sharp perspective.’

The Lord Mayor of Portsmouth Councillor David Fuller cut the ribbon to start the walk and said it was an honour for him to be involved.

‘Plan-UK and the work it does was something I was not aware of,’ he said.

‘It has been really interesting to speak to the school and understand why they do the walk.

‘It is brilliant the students can be united and show that stability while raising awareness.’