First bicycle kits arrived in Matosinhos. The Perafita EB 2, 3 received the first bicycle kits in the scope of the "School Sport on Wheels" programme
The Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth in partnership with the Directorate General for Education and with the support of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, boosted the project "School Sport on Wheels" at the start of the 2022/23 school year, with an investment of about 2.8 million euros.
The Universal Active Life Support System (SUAVA), under the responsibility of the Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth, aims to contribute to the resilience of citizens, promoting physical and emotional well-being by increasing the practice of physical activity.
João Paulo Correia, Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, Luísa Salgueiro, Mayor of Matosinhos, and representatives of the Ministry of Education were today at the Perafita basic school to symbolically offer the first bicycle kits that will also be distributed in all Matosinhos basic schools with 2nd cycle. Each school will receive 20 bicycles and respective helmets with a composition adaptable to different ages.
By the end of 2024, around 17,800 bicycles and respective helmets will be available in 863 teaching establishments, with the 2nd cycle of basic education. In the North region, 307 schools will be covered with 6,370 bicycles and helmets.
The ceremony counted with interventions from João Paulo Correia, Luisa Salgueiro, and Mariana Espogeira, director of the Perafita school grouping.
The Secretary of State for Youth and Sports spoke of Matosinhos as a national reference in what concerns sports, addressing words of recognition to the municipality for the investment made in this sector. "Matosinhos has over the years invested in sport on several fronts. Infrastructures, multisports policy, with the support to several sports, including adapted sports, and the training of the youngest, are flags that must be acknowledged", he pointed out. João Paulo Correia took the opportunity to praise the importance of this type of project to promote physical activity and raise awareness for the adoption of healthy living habits, adding that, in a second phase, the programme will extend to the promotion of the use of bicycles by school teachers and assistants. "We want tomorrow to be more sustainable", she concluded.
Luísa Salgueiro addressed words of thanks to the Perafita school for the reception and preparation of such a beautiful ceremony, showing that the Perafita school community is "an open community, capable and that favours the formation of citizens". "The school is not a closed space that ends at its gates," he stressed. "The involvement of the board, teachers, students, parents and various collectivities of the Union of Parishes are proof of the dynamism that is lived here," he stressed.
"We have long advocated for this new relationship with bicycles and sustainable modes of transport. This project is just one more step that will contribute to change behaviours", he added.
The bicycle delivery ceremony counted with the involvement of the whole school and education community, namely the students, who, with the help of their teachers, prepared small theatre and music performances that made the moment even more special and participated.
Also present at this ceremony were the Vice-Chairman of the Matosinhos City Council, Carlos Mouta, the Sports Councillor and Director of Matosinhos Sport, Vasco Pinho, the Director of Matosinhos Sport, Henrique Calisto, and the President of the Parish Councils of Perafita, Lavra and Santa Cruz do Bispo, Lurdes Queirós.